Other's Opinions
by AdmHawthorne
Summary: Maura's attempt to get Jane back into yoga class turns into a realization of the thing that Jane's been trying to avoid about herself. Rizzles Co-Written with Googlemouth
1. Chapter 1

**Googlemouth and I have been working on this fic for a while now. We're really thinking of pulling this universe into a series as we really enjoyed creating it.**

**Reviews are greatly appreciated by us both.**

**Characters aren't ours. We promise to give them back when we're done.**

* * *

"You haven't really given it enough of a try," Maura pressed, following Jane around the bullpen as the detective made coffee, filed paperwork, checked her phone messages, applied lip balm, searched DMV records for proof of something-or-other that Maura didn't really have to understand. "You're still very new to yoga, but surely you can already feel some of the benefits it's bestowing on you... right, Jane? The stretches are wonderful for relieving stiffness, tension, pain, and fatigue. They increase the range of motion in your joints, and contribute to a sense of ease and fluidity throughout the body. It also has positive effects on the ligaments, tendons, the fascia sheath that surrounds the muscles... all the soft tissues."

As Maura warmed to her topic, heedless of Korsak's affectionately acidic commentary and Frost's humor, she pulled out all the stops, even attempting to use lay language instead of medical terminology just so Jane couldn't claim not to understand. "Yoga can help you increase your lung capacity, overall strength, core strength, endurance, and of course the benefits to posture are incalculable. Not only will you feel better, but you'll also become more visually imposing, which will be a great asset when you're interviewing witnesses and suspects. You can't tell me _that's_ not important to you."

"Among yoga's anti-stress benefits are a host of biochemical responses," the doctor continued, voice taking on a very light tone of desperation, which she quickly masked with an overlay of reasonability, certain that logic was the way to go. "For example, there is a decrease in catecholamines, the hormones produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress. Lowering levels of hormone neurotransmitters - dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine - creates a feeling of calm. Some research points to a boost in the hormone oxytocin, the so-called 'trust' and 'bonding' hormone that's associated with feeling relaxed and connected to others. That may be why so many romances start in the yoga studio. And just wait until you start feeling the effects of yoga on your libido. It's really quite astonishing how..."

Jane abruptly turned around and put a hand over the medical examiner's mouth. "Maura! That's enough. I'm not going back there, and there's nothing you can say to make me go, okay? I'm not going to walk in there after what you said to Jorge. It's bad enough I have to deal with that kind of crap at work, I sure as hell don't need it during my down time."

Maura seemed oblivious to the nuances coming from any other direction. "I told you before, Jane, I didn't tell Jorge you were gay. He assumed, but that's different. Besides, does it really bother you what he thinks now that he's stopped calling? I thought that's what you wanted."

Vince Korsak had enough gentlemanly feeling to look slightly abashed; he had let his former partner sink or swim on her own, rather than shutting up the mouths of those who assumed that only a lesbian would want "a man's job," or that a lesbian was no more than a woman who wanted to be like a man. Barry frowned, over at the shredder where he was destroying unneeded but sensitive materials. He hadn't been brought into homicide until after people had stopped (mostly) calling Jane names, and this new information about their fellow detectives' behavior upset him. Did they call him racial epithets behind his back, too?

"You told that guy Jane was gay?" Frankie asked as he entered the bullpen, carrying a folder which he set on Korsak's desk. "Way to go. You don't just out somebody like that, Doc."

"Okay, first of all, I'm _not gay_. Second of all, you _know_ what they said about me when I first made detective. People... _men_ ...were just jealous because I'm the better cop, and they just couldn't stand that a _girl_ beat 'em. They would say all sorts of shit just to try to get to me." She sat down heavily in her chair. "So, just... let's just drop it, okay? It's done and over with." She turned her hardened eyes back to Maura. "You," she gave a two finger point in the doctor's direction, "weren't here so you get a pass on this one, but I'm not putting up with BS when it isn't true. So, you can stop right now with the comments on my _flexibility_. That's all I need, the uniforms walking around taking potshots about how flexible the female detective is." She crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair as she did so. "Maura, you want to talk about it some more, you can go talk to a wall. I'm done discussing it."

Frost was bothered by the nature of the conversation. "Look, Rizzoli, it doesn't matter to me whether you're gay, straight, bi, or you like to hump the stuffed unicorn that I swear every girl gets for her seventh birthday. Nobody has any business getting up in your business. I hear anybody talking like that, I will go Jet Li on their asses."

The old grouchy teddy bear still looked chastised as he said, "Me too, Janie. I'm sorry."

"Yeah," Frankie added supportively as Maura grew more and more distressed with the way Jane was taking all of this. To his credit, he lowered his voice as he stepped closer to his sister, so that the others wouldn't hear him. "But wait a sec, you're not gay? What do you mean you're _not_ gay? You mean you're not gay except for the Doc, right?" Maura frantically shook her head, but to no avail; he just kept talking. "I mean, I'm not going to say anything to Pop, or ,God forbid, Ma, but you don't have to say that just because I'm here. I know, Sis. It's no big deal. It's past the year 2000. We may not have our jet packs and flying cars yet, but at least we know that being gay isn't a crime or a sin anymore." He was doing his best to be a good brother. Jane wondered if her knew he was flirting with premature death.

Meanwhile, Maura, still quite nearby, was just within Jane's arm's reach. She heard Frankie perfectly well. Jane was already upset, and Maura wanted to end the conversation quickly. After all, Jane had already said the discussion was over, and here Frankie was, still discussing it. "No, Frankie," Maura told him, her voice also quieting down, "Jane and I are just friends."

Frankie's look of utter surprise, not to mention disbelief, didn't speak well for his likelihood of living long enough to retake the detective exam. "Seriously? No way. You're always over there. Or she's over by your place. For God's sakes, Janie, you put on that ridiculous - I mean that really cool PUKE outfit for the race, just because Maura got it for you."

"I did that because Maura is my _friend_, Frankie. You painted yourself green once for Mark because he wanted to go as leprechauns for St. Patrick's Day. That doesn't make you gay, does it?" Jane tilted her head to the side in a very brief moment of contemplation. "Though you did a fabulous job of putting on that eyeliner," she smirked.

Maura couldn't stop herself. "You know, wearing cosmetics isn't an exclusive right of females and male homosexuals. Kohl eye liner has been used for centuries by the..." She broke off brusquely, realizing now was not the time to give a history on makeup usage.

Korsak chuckled as he turned his attention to Frankie. "You know, I always wondered how you knew how to put that stuff on your face, Frankie. I mean, _I_ would never have worn the blush. But, you know, it looked good on you."

"Hey," Frankie crossed his arms as he let the light teasing change the topic. "I learned that by watching my sister try to put makeup on when she was a teenager. You should have _seen_ her back in the 80's when…"

"And we're not going there, either. Look, don't you have a beat to patrol or something?" Jane glanced back at Korsak. "And, don't you have some fuzzy animals to watch online?"

"_Touchy_," Korsak grumbled as he turned back to his computer. He gave a quick look in Frost's direction, but found the other detective was already working quietly at his desk.

"Yeah… yeah, but, seriously, Janie if…" Frankie's partner barked from several yards away, calling him back to their work day.

Maura tried once more to correct Frankie's mistaken assumption, even though she clearly had no idea why it needed to be done, other than the fact that it had upset Jane. "We're not," she said with certainty, distress written in her features. "Not that there would be anything wrong with that..."

Jane waved Frankie away and quieted Maura, both with the same dismissive gesturing of her hand. "Go. Just go, Frankie."

Frankie gave them a disbelieving look before turning to go. "Whatever, Janie," he said, dismissing the whole concern. "Either you're lying or you're not. Whichever, it just means you have no idea why the doc would want to put you in a spandex running outfit. You know you can talk to me whenever. See you for gnocchi night." With that, he headed out.

Maura's eyes widened, then returned to normal very rapidly. "Well, I should get back to the morgue. I have a... thing to do." She tried for a hasty retreat back to her office, but was cut short.

"Wait a minute, Doctor Isles," Frost perked up. "You know, you never did tell us what you said to that Jorge guy to make him leave Jane alone. Did you seriously tell him Jane was gay?"

"_No_," Maura replied, then softened her voice. "No. He assumed it. I just didn't correct him, because it solved the problem. Or so I thought."

"Yeah, but what did you _say_ to make him assume it?" Korsak asked, once more invested in information-digging.

Maura looked caught, trapped between Jane's annoyance and the curiosity of the two men. "I... I don't... It doesn't... No one really wants to hear this. I'm sure Jane doesn't." Hazel doe-eyes pleaded with Jane, the very person she had upset by starting the conversation, to bail her out of it.

"Hey, didn't _anyone_ hear me? I _said_ this conversation is over. Now, why don't we all get back to work? I don't know about the rest of you, but _I'm_ trying to solve a murder here." Jane grabbed a folder from her desk and held it up to the doctor. "Maura, did you get the results done for this case, or what?" Her voice was harsh. Her eyes were full of anger, but Jane seemed to realize the doctor was about to break down. In another second, the brunette's voice changed to something gentler as she continued to ask questions. "Did you manage to find the weapon? Was it the .22 we found earlier, and are you still coming to gnocchi night? Ma wants to know." She handed the folder over to the blonde.

Maura nodded, then shook her head, full of confusion. "I... the .22, yes, ballistics said it was the same one." A work-related task was just the thing to focus her mind, and she was grateful for it. "Gnocchi. Yes. I'd love to come." Her smile was pained. She hated upsetting Jane, seeing Jane's formidable anger directed at her in even the smallest measure, for any reason, no matter how much she might have deserved it for some unwitting infraction, was distressing to her. "I'll bring up the report in a few minutes."

With that, the Doc headed for the mercifully quick-closing doors of the elevator, enjoying a moment of before she resumed her work in the morgue.

Upstairs, Vince Korsak couldn't leave well enough alone, not without one last remark. He loved Jane, and, as much as he had to conceal the father-like warmth he felt for her, he couldn't do it entirely. "I still don't care, Janie. You could hump girls, guys, or trees. Long as you're happy." _Then_ it was over, at least for him. Barry tossed in one final "Yeah," and then put his head down before he got it chopped off.

The squad room fell silent as the three detectives went back to work, and Jane stewed in her anger. It took her about ten minutes to come to the conclusion that she may have been too harsh on her friend. Given what she knew about Maura, the detective should have known that Maura had no idea what she was digging up by starting in on yoga classes and Jorge.

With a sigh, Jane stood. "I'm going down to the morgue for the reports and then to grab some coffee. You two want anything?"

Frost shook his head no. Korsak grunted some sort of reply to the negative, his attention wrapped up in whatever was on his computer screen.


	2. Chapter 2

The elevator ride down to the morgue felt like it took ages to Jane as she shifted her weight back and forth waiting for the lift to come to a stop. As she exited, she gave herself a mental shake down. She was going to check on her friend and, maybe, apologize. The last thing she wanted was to let Maura feel like she had been in the wrong when she was just trying to be helpful. The medical examiner was Jane's friend, and Jane knew she needed to make this right before something worse happened.

Maura had managed to push aside the confusion and upset of earlier, and had once again resumed her normal demeanor and mindset. She was even smiling, and looked the next best thing to serene when Jane entered the morgue.

"Hey, Maur, you get those results yet?" Jane walked over to where Maura was seated with her laptop flipped open, some obscure medical journal displayed on the screen. She stood silent for an awkward second before adding. "Are you okay?"

"Mostly," the medical examiner replied immediately, "Although I'm still puzzled as to why you were angry with me. Do you feel like telling me, or would you rather just take the report?" Her gesture indicated the completed report right at the corner of her desk. She was giving Jane a way out.

Jane winced at the reply of 'mostly'. She was hoping the answer would be 'I'm fine'. She couldn't let the whole thing slide, though. She felt Maura deserved an answer. "Ummm, listen, about all that stuff earlier," Jane pushed herself up to sit on the desk top by Maura's computer. "I'm sorry. I over-reacted. I know you're just trying to help. It's just that, when I was first promoted, I got a lot of heat from the men who didn't get it, and, a lot of the time, they called me a lesbian as a way of… well, it was meant as an insult." She shrugged. "After a while, it got to me, you know?" She stared down at her hands, gathering her thoughts. "They used to not have anyone they could target but me. But, now, there's you, and I don't want them saying things that aren't true about you, Maura. It's not right." She glanced over at the doctor. "You deserve to be treated better than that, and you're my friend. I'm going to stick up for you." Another heavy sigh escaped the detective's lips. "I guess I'm just trying to protect you."

Maura's tongue clicked as she reached out to lace her fingers through Jane's. "Protect me? From being called a lesbian? I can't think why."

"Not from being called a lesbian, from being mocked and ridiculed. _That's_ what they're really doing when they say we're a couple. They're demeaning us, and, when it was just me, I could handle it. But, when they start bringing my friend into it, I start getting a little pissed off." She gave the hand in hers a light squeeze. "You shouldn't have to deal with their idiocy just because you're my friend, Maur. That's not fair to you."

Dismay suffused Maura's expression. "Jane, I had no idea you felt that way. I'm really surprised." Her hand pulled away from Jane's and clasped its mate in her lap. "This is... I don't know what to say. Distressing." Her lips pursed as she mulled over the situation, then shook her head. "I wish I hadn't known that about you. I need a few minutes to integrate this information into my knowledge of you."

Jane sat quietly for a long moment to give her friend time. After the time had passed, she addressed the doctor in a quiet, hesitant voice. "Maur, I have no idea what you just said." She groaned. "I mean, I think I know, but I'm not really sure… did you mean you didn't know I consider you my friend, or that I think they're mocking us or that… hell, I don't know. Throw me a bone here."

"I didn't know," Maura explained after a moment of meditative breathing, "that you would be insulted to be called something that only a woman can be. You wouldn't be upset at being called a mother or aunt, would you? Even though you're neither of those things, you would just correct the person and move on. You wouldn't be upset to be called a sister or niece or daughter, either. So why is lesbian different?" Then her expression became subtly more pained. "Or _is_ lesbian different? Maybe it's just that you don't want to be associated with _me_ in that manner."

"What? No! Maura," Jane slid from the desk to kneel beside the blonde. "That's not… I would never." She reached a hand out, clasping it over Maura's, which were still folded in her lap. "If there was one woman that had to be thought of as my… as my partner, my _girlfriend_, I'd rather it be you. I'm not ashamed of you, if that's what you're getting at. You know how I feel about you. I just don't like it when other people start putting down the people I care about." She frowned, trying to find the right words to get the medical examiner to understand. "Maura, I can't… I would do just about anything to protect you from people being assholes toward you. You know that."

Maura didn't move her hands away, nor did she turn them over to take Jane's as she normally would. Tension gathered in her upper arms and shoulders. "If it's not about me, then it's about lesbians. Why is being called a lesbian a put-down? Why is it insulting, something to get angry about? Jane, I don't like thinking of you as harboring homophobia. Where did this come from?"

"I'm not homophobic, Maura. God, why does everything have to be so complicated with you?" Jane didn't stand. Instead, the hand on Maura's tightened its grip slightly as she began to ramble off her annoyance. "I came down here to apologize, and it's like I walked into the Spanish Inquisition or something. Look, I'm not ashamed of you. I'm not embarrassed by you. I _love_ you. I _care_ about you. You _know_ that."

Manicured hands shifted within Jane's, freeing themselves from the detective's tight grip just enough to turn them over and clasp them, palm to palm, at Jane's professions of affection. "Oh, Jane, that's... that's really sweet," she sniffed, dismay turned to half-smile.

"I'm not homophobic," Jane went on, choosing to ignore the mushy sentiment of her friend, "But you, of all people, should appreciate that I want people to at least know the truth and not make assumptions based on inferences, as you like to say we detective types tend to do. I want to _protect_ you, Maur. I can't help myself. Call it my innate nature. Call it being stubborn. Hell, call it being stupid, but I have this urge to keep the guys, anyone really, from hurting you or making fun of you. You're too good of a person to have to deal with that shit. I don't _want_ you to have to deal with that." The brunette pulled her hands away as she sat back on her heels. Running a hand through her hair, she gave a sigh. "Does any of that make sense?"

Two perfectly plucked brows drew together as Maura listened, nodding at salient points. She was a very good listener, focusing entirely on the speaker, actively pursuing not just comprehension, but understanding. "They call me Doctor Death, too. That's not upsetting. After all, I _am_ a doctor, and I _do_ deal with the dead. Some of the people who call me Doctor Death mean it in a derogatory fashion, that it's creepy, but some just have respect for someone who works daily with something that they're afraid to face."

"I understand what you're saying," decided the medical examiner after another long, contemplative moment of just processing, "but there's something beneath it that worries me. The assumption that someone calling me a lesbian is an insult - or that it would be perceived as such on my part. Does the accuracy or inaccuracy of the statement affect the way I should perceive it?"

"When it comes to bigots and sexiest pigs, yeah. It's the _meaning_ behind what they say that's the insult, whether it's true or not. If you let them get away with it, then that's as good as telling them it's okay to keep being that way." Jane stood to sit on Maura's desk again. "Maura, I'm just going to go out on a limb here and ask because I feel like I'm digging a hole. Frankly, I really don't know how to get out of it."

Maura's head bobbed, granting permission. "Go ahead, Jane. Ask."

She stared down into the patiently waiting hazel eyes as she gathered courage. "_Are_ you attracted to women? I mean, _am_ I being overly protective of your," the detective stopped. In one instant, she was incredibly focused and, in the next, she was laughing. The laughter started as a chuckle but soon rolled into an all-out giggle session. It took her time to compose herself. "Okay, you know, I think I _would be_ the guy. I was about to say 'protective of your virtue', like I'm some sort of white knight or something. God." She pushed away from the desk to pace a small circle in the open area beside it. "What the hell is wrong with me?" The chuckles still came, escaping off and on as she let her internal dialogue slip out past her lips. "You're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. I know that. I've seen you in action." She stopped pacing to face the doctor. "I'm being a little absurd, huh? I'm sorry. I guess, after being put through the ringer by the guys for being a female and a cop, I just didn't want you to have to go through it either, but you won't because," she shrugged, "you're you and that's just not how you think. I'm sorry."

Maura opened her mouth to reply, fingers gone cool and dry within Jane's hands until the detective took them away from her to fidget. As her friend just kept talking, however, she could do nothing but smile at the onslaught of words. Usually that was _her_ job, piling words atop words to bury discomfort. "A little absurd, but it's sweet. Thank you for wanting to shield me from schoolyard taunts. I don't think I really understood what was going on. I'm sorry for believing that you were homophobic."

"Yeah, sure; no big deal." A look of relief spread across Jane's face, and her body relaxed a bit. "So, dinner tonight? I'll cook. I think I owe you." She began to fidget with the papers on the corner of Maura's desk, not looking at her friend as she waited for a response.

"I love your cooking," Maura replied with a smile, and it was settled. The only matter left was to hand Jane the folder she'd ostensibly come looking for. "If I get started right now with the Fedoruk autopsy, I should be done by the end of today. If I don't see you before then, I'll meet you at your place around... six? Or do you want to cook in my kitchen?"

Jane frowned. "No, I want you to come over tonight. It's Friday. Why not bring Bass, and we can watch a few movies and crash? I just picked up some teen movie that Ma _insisted_ I watch," she rolled her eyes as she tried to remember the title. "It think it's called _Easy A_ or something like that, and Hank, the guy across the hall, gave me a movie called _It's In the Water_ that he says I need to watch. Or, you know, we could watch whatever." She continued to fidget with the papers, moving them until all the edges lined up perfectly.

Those hands, those scarred hands, slender, long-fingered, short-nailed, olive-skinned... Maura watched them as they toyed with her stack of papers in the inbox, listening but not truly hearing what Jane was saying. "Whatever you'd like to watch is fine," she replied idly, leaving it at that until another part of Jane's suggestion stuck in her mind, glimmering like silver confetti frozen in midair, halfway to the floor. Her eyes lifted to focus on the taller woman's face. "Jane, your place? I don't mind at all, but do you think that's a good idea?" Her expression was neutral, carefully so. They'd stayed at Jane's one-bedroom flat together several times, but not after conversations like the ones they'd held just now.

The detective stopped moving the papers and finally turned to face Maura. "Yeah, sure. I mean, why wouldn't it be?" The frown on her face morphed into a wicked grin. "Why? Are you afraid for your virtue or something? You just said you like my cooking. I promise I won't poison it any more than I usually do."

Maura chuckled, tension released with Jane's joke. "I do like your cooking, and I'm not worried about my virtue, either. I think I can trust you with it." Her voice was light, nearly teasing, but without the element of mystery upon which an effective tease depends.

"That's what I thought." Jane's cocky demeanor was back as she felt Maura had let the subject drop and things were back to normal. With a wink and quick turn on her heels, she left the morgue. "See you tonight, Maur."


	3. Chapter 3

Back in the squad room, Frost and Korsak were busy at their own paperwork, for once taking advantage of a lull in homicides to do actual work instead of gossip like old ladies or rearrange the pencils in their drawers. However, with the return of Jane, Korsak couldn't help but notice, "Forgot your coffee, eh Janie?"

"Dude, lay off her," Frost immediately broke in, defending his partner. "She's got a lot on her mind. Speaking of which, Rizzoli, did you ever find out what your girlfriend said to Jorge?"

"You're both about this close," Jane held her hand up and showed a small space between her thumb and forefinger, "to being shot. Honestly, I don't know what the hell is wrong with everybody. Maura is my friend, okay?" She threw her hands up in frustration. "Why does everyone _insist_ on calling her my girlfriend? I mean, _seriously_, we've never even kissed. What on earth would," for the second time that day, Jane stopped talking mid-sentence. Her eyes widened for a moment, and she went slightly pale. "Man, forget you guys. I'm going for coffee." Though her voice was steady, her ordinarily firm steps were slightly off as she headed for the exit to the squad room.

Frost tried shouting, "I forgot, Jane, I'm sorry! You know I don't - Aw, hell," he broke off as Jane went right out the door. "Korsak, don't the ladies that play bridge together call each other girlfriends? My last girlfriend, the girl I dated, had about a dozen girlfriends, the girls she went shopping and had lunch with. That's all I meant, I swear!"

Korsak sighed. Frost was a good detective and a good man, but he could be so stupid about women, mused the man who'd been divorced by three of them himself. "You've got to learn, Frost. Jane's so used to hearing about the guy kind of girlfriend, she doesn't even think about the girlie kind of girlfriend anymore. You're getting good at watching your partner's back, but you also got to watch your _damn mouth_, okay?"

"Yeah, I just don't think about her _like that_, you know? She's my partner, and my friend. It just never..." Frost shook his head, "Yeah, you're right Korsak." With that, they both dropped the subject and went back to their work.

* * *

Jane stood in line for coffee. Her hands ran from rubbing across her scars to fingering the badge on her belt to lightly touching the gun on her hip, and then back again. She was anxious, and it showed in every part of her from the scowl on her face to the tension in her shoulders.

"Yo, Janie, you okay?" It was Frankie and his partner.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just waiting for my coffee." Jane hooked her thumbs in her pants pockets to still them as she nodded a hello to Frankie's partner.

"You look nervous. Are you sure you okay? You're not in trouble with the brass again, are you?" Her little brother was genuinely concerned, and, though Jane wanted to be annoyed about it, she really needed a friend right at that moment more than a fight.

"No, I'm not. Listen, you got a sec?" Her eyes flickered to the man behind Frankie and then back to her brother. "I want to talk to you about something."

"We're about to go on lunch, so yeah. You want to go hit the diner?"

"Yeah, that'd be good. You okay with that Shelton?" Jane finally directly addressed Frankie's partner. "I promise to bring him home before he turns back into the ugly step child." She smirked.

"Too late for that." Shelton replied with a chuckle. "Go on, I'm just going to eat here. You taking the cruiser or the unmarked?"

"Nah, I'll drive. Keep the cruiser in case you have to find Frankie's other shoe or something." Jane gave her brother a little shove. "Come on, Cinderfella, let's not be late to the ball."

Frankie shoved back. "Why you both got to be that way?"

"What? I'm on a time table here, Maura's reports for the last bit of that autopsy should be done in about an hour. Come on, before she finishes and I'm not there to annoy her about reddish brown stains, or, worse, she gives the report to Frost, and Frost says something stupid."


	4. Chapter 4

Choudhry was a good technician, one who had begun his education intending to be a doctor, and who always thought of their bodies as patients rather than corpses or victims, even though he seldom laid eyes on them. Looking at the dead bodies was what had altered his career permanently, as the first one he'd encountered in this office had been that of a too-young victim of a fate that no one should have to suffer. He'd gone back to school and come out as a lab technician, able to help the dead without actually having to encounter their wounds with his own eyes and hands. When she thought of him at all, Maura thought of the man as delicate. Fragile. He had limitations, but was excellent within the narrow area of focus. Trace evidence made him smile, especially when he could be instrumental in catching someone and putting them away for whatever they'd done. Oh, for a hundred more like him, each with their own different specializations! Give her that, and there would never be another unsolved murder.

Not that Maura was thinking about Choudhry at the moment. In fact, when he spoke, she startled, having stood there in front of her day's work, scrubs on, scalpel in hand, poised a bare millimeter above the skin, for a good fifteen minutes. "Doctor Isles, I have the analysis of the substance you found between the toes of our patient yesterday."

"Yes, thank you, Sanjit," replied the good doctor, swiftly covering the 'patient' with a sheet so that he could enter the room without seeing much. Always, it seemed to her, she was protecting others from what they didn't want to see or contemplate. "Could you put it on my desk?" He did so, grateful for her delicacy in hiding the current body, whatever had happened to it, from him; and then scurried out to attend to more trace evidence analysis, looking to the microscopic as the life-sized world was just too much to deal with, all at once. Maura uncovered the body and, after a brief pause to marshal her thoughts to the task before her, bent to her work.

* * *

Jane and Frankie sat down at their usual booth, order their usual food and drink, and then fell silent.

"So, uh… what'd you want to talk about, Sis?" Frankie took a sip of his coffee.

With a frown, Jane forced herself to look into her little brother's eyes. "Maura."

"Okay…?"

"I… Frankie, I need to ask you something, and you have to _promise_ me you won't talk to anyone about, even Ma. Promise me?" Her eyes were pleading.

"Yeah, sure, I promise." Frankie gave her a concerned look. "Is something wrong with her?"

"No, nothing's _wrong_ with her, but something might be _wrong_ with me." She sighed. "You know this morning back at the station when you said I could talk to you about anything?"

"Yeah..."

"I… God, I don't even know," Jane ran a hand across her face. "Frankie, I think I might actually like Maura."

"Okay." He took a sip of his coffee. "She's a nice girl. What's not to like?"

"No, I mean _like_ like her… You know, in _that_ way." Jane closed her eyes, grimacing as she waited for her brother's response.

"Yeah, like I said, what's not to like?" There was an odd nonchalant quality in his voice.

"Frankie!" The detective opened her eyes and slammed her hand down on the table. "I mean I'm attracted to her!"

"Yeah, Sis, I get it. In fact, we all do." He smirked back at the shocked look on his sister's face.

"Seriously?" Jane slumped down in her seat. "You really weren't just jacking with me when you said you thought I was a lesbian?"

"Nah, not that time anyway." He winked. "Look, Maura's a good girl, and I know Ma and Pop like her…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… Ma and Pop? As in you all have been talking about me and Maura behind my back?"

"Not behind your back," he shrugged. "More like it comes up a lot when Ma's trying to figure out how to get you to go out on dates. Pop was the first to bring up the fact you might not be straight. Then, we started talking about it one day when she wanted to hook you up with Shelton. We started putting the pieces together with how you and Maura are always around each other and stuff. I don't know. It just fit."

"Oh, Jesus," Jane took a few gulps of her coffee. "What kind of stuff?"

"Well, you're always touching each other, which is weird for you because you don't even like it when Ma gives you a hug. You ran a freaking _marathon_ for Maura while in a _unitard_ with the work 'puke' across your chest. But," he seemed to really be thinking it over. "The biggest thing is that you let her touch your hands."

With that comment, she glanced down at her hands which were gripping her coffee mug as if it was a life preserver. "I trust her."

"That's part of it, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess so." She bowed her head, staring down at her lap. "God, Frankie, what am I going to do?"

"I'm not really a relationship kind of guy, Sis, but I'd say you probably need to talk to her about it, right?" She felt his hand on her arm.

She looked up, conflict and frustration written in her eyes. "Yeah, it is." Jane pulled back as the waitress set their food down. "We better hurry up and eat. We'll be late getting back."

"Yeah, sure," Frankie let the topic die as they ate in silence.  


* * *

  
Once she had regained her focus, Maura's work quickly filled her mind, such that after finishing up, she was quietly astonished to see the clock telling her it was twenty minutes before what would be most people's quitting time. "Well," she remarked in her surprise, "that helped."

And indeed it had. After a near-fight with Jane, followed by some more of that upsetting closeness that always followed such momentary emotional separations, she'd feared that it would occupy her mind all day. Blessedly it hadn't, though the thoughts came crowding back upon her the moment she had removed her purple rubber gloves and black scrubs, cleaned up from her work, and headed home. She had so many questions, but daren't ask them; Jane had questions too, but showed little evidence of wanting the answers.

At the end of it all, there was the awkwardness of realizing just how un-awkward the two of them were together. Having a best friend was still so new. Was it supposed to look like this? It had at her elementary school, where girls would skip to classes and playgrounds with hands clasped. It had at her boarding school in France, where girls would link pinkies and whisper and giggle together about... whatever they discussed; Maura hadn't been in on those secretive talks, ever. In college, who knew what happened at parties or in shared dorm rooms? Probably the giggling and secrets continued, she decided while showering the autopsy smell off, but the secrets got juicier as the girls keeping them or sharing them got older, gained experiences. So, what she and Jane shared did look like what best friends looked like, based on her lifelong observations.

Was it supposed to feel like this, though? She had no basis for comparison. The longest she'd known anyone on anything like a steady basis was Bass, whom she'd had since she was seven years old. He saw her as a source of food, and he trusted her enough to let her pet his actual head instead of only his shell, but what else did they share? As she chopped up his salad of greens and fruit, Maura reflected wryly that until Jane, Bass was the closest thing she had to a real friend, and she didn't have the illusion that he would stay near her if an attractive female Geochelone sulcata beckoned during mating season. Bass made her feel protective, needed, but he didn't give her the vaguely warm feelings she'd enjoyed when in group settings with people who were well-mannered enough to forego mocking her odd hobbies. He was a friend, though he gave her just about what she gave to others, Maura supposed: precious little, all of it pleasant, none of it important on an emotional level.

Jane wasn't like that. Rather than abandon her when a potential mate came along, Jane went out on dates and then cut them short just to come see her in the morgue, or come to her house already in pajamas and complain. Unlike Bass, she did give Maura those vaguely warm - no, not vaguely at all - feelings. All the time, in fact. She didn't depend on Maura to feed her, but she did join her for meals. Maura didn't pat Jane on the head, nor on the hard shell that she presented to the world, but she did get to hold Jane's hands, and she knew quite well how much trust that demonstrated on the taller woman's part.

What was the limit on friendship? That was Maura's real problem. As she drove towards Jane's house, barely aware of her surroundings, she puzzled over the thing that had confused her almost from the first moment that she'd realized that they _were_ friends (because Jane had thoughtfully informed her of the fact). Yes, she was attracted to Jane, but exactly how far could mere friendship, or best-friendship, go to explaining that to herself, or more to the point, excusing it to Jane? Jane was so adamant that she wasn't gay. _But she is,_ Maura's subconscious remarked, then fed her the evidence she had been recording for quite some time now. Hand holding was friendship, but there were limits to how long friends held hands, and Jane regularly extended that time to its maximum. Friends did things together, stretched one another's boundaries, but there were limits to that, too, and Jane had run a marathon in a skin-tight bodysuit with P.U.K.E. on the chest for her; and Maura had brought Jane to more than one high-society function, knowing full well that Jane would embarrass her, but secretly enjoying the embarrassment. Maura hadn't missed the subtle evidence of Jane's facial muscle contractions, pupil dilations, breathing rate. She'd been fully aware of what was happening when Jane got upset with her for staring at a well-built man in the gym.

Maura pulled into the visitor parking space nearest to Jane's apartment and allowed herself three entire minutes of meditative breathing and centering. If she could help it, Jane would have no reason to ask her any questions tonight that would upset her when she heard the answers. As the clock clicked over from 5:59 to 6:00, she knocked on Jane's door. Maura Isles was nothing if not punctual. 


	5. Chapter 5

Jane was hyper focused on the meal she was making. It was a chicken dish her mother made on special occasions, and she figured this was probably a good time to make it for Maura. When she heard the knock on her door, it startled her. Glancing at the clock, she smiled. Right on time, of course.

"Hey, come in. The food's almost ready. You want a glass of wine or do you want to figure out what movie we're going to watch first?" Jane gave her best smile hoping that her nervousness was well hidden.

Maura stepped in with one foot, but paused on the threshold, head tilting as she smiled up at Jane for a beat, then continued on inside. "Any movie is fine. So, what happened?" she wondered, setting down her purse by the door and leaving Bass to wander as he pleased. There was no overnight bag in sight, which was not unusual for either of them anymore since they'd each managed to accrue a small emergency stash of clothing from various sleepovers. Off of Jane's questioning look, the medical examiner explained, "Your jaw is clenched, but not enough to indicate anger. The set of your features suggests determination and finality, but your movements are less efficient and graceful than usual, suggesting anxiety. Yet, you're not agitated enough to have burnt whatever smells so good. Therefore, something has happened to alter your state of thoughts or emotions, probably both, in the," she checked her wristwatch, "seven and three-quarters hours since we last spoke. What was it?"

"Yup," Jane muttered to herself as she went into the kitchen to attend to the various items cooking. "Leave it to you to not make anything easy." She sighed as she pulled the chicken out of the oven to let it rest and began putting the plates together. With a motion of her head to indicate she wanted Maura to move, she started, "Will you grab glasses for the wine? The bottle's on the table. I'm almost done here. I had lunch with Frankie today. We talk about you a little bit. I learned some things. Got some things to figure out. This pasta might be a little over cooked. I got distracted about half way through. Can you grab the napkins, too?" Jane began placing the food on the plates, keeping her gaze decidedly off of Maura.

For once, Maura let an inquiry go. With a satisfied expression that indicated she had enough information for the time being, she stepped around Jane to put out place mats, napkins, wine glasses, and flatware. "I'm sure the pasta's fine," she said with a little more reassurance in her voice than a little pasta mishap would really warrant. "Oh, this wine looks nice. I've heard good things about this vineyard, and I enjoy their reds, but I haven't tasted their whites. I love a new wine."

"Yeah, I remembered you said you liked them." Jane noted that Maura had let her statements go, and she didn't miss the odd change in attitude the blonde seemed to have. With a nervous smile playing on her lips, the brunette sat the plates down and settled into her chair across from the doctor. "I figured we'd give it a try. I chilled the wine. That's right, isn't it? White wine is chilled and red's at room temperature? Honestly, Maur, I don't know how you keep all of this stuff straight." She kept her eyes on her plate, her wine glass, or the bottle. Really, Jane let her eyes wander anywhere but onto Maura. "I hope you like this. Ma taught me how to make it when I was about 15. The first time I tried it, I managed to set the oven on fire. Ma wouldn't let me near the kitchen for about two weeks after that." She chuckled at the memory. "Best two weeks of my teenage life."

Joe Friday scampered out of the bedroom to run haphazard circles and figure eights around chair legs, table legs, and human legs, yapping in greeting. Maura set down the last item of flatware before bending to scoop up the enthusiastic dog for a quick hug and tummy rub, then set her down to let her keep running. "Yes, white wine is chilled, and I'm sure the food is delicious. It smells so tempting. Can I do anything to help you in the kitchen? Wash up, at least? Or is the food time-sensitive enough that we should leave the cleanup for after?" Her amusement was plain to see, but she had just enough graciousness to avert her eyes to give Jane her privacy, letting the detective think she had noticed no more signs of nervousness.

"Sit down and eat, Maur." Jane finally made eye contact. "I didn't ask you over to be my maid. I asked you over because I like your company. Clean up can wait. Your food'll get cold." Joe yipped at Jane's knee, and the brunette smiled. "I didn't forget about you. You have food in your bowl. You don't get any of this." Joe whined. "No, I'm not giving in. People food is for people. You have that fancy stuff Maura buys you in your bowl. I picked it up this afternoon. Go eat that." The little dog barked once more and then went over to her dish. Jane glanced up to see amusement on her friend's face. "What?"

Maura's smile was warm, very warm, as she sat obediently and took a sip of wine. "I didn't say anything," she barely protested. "However, I do find it very touching, how sweet you are to Joe. Buying her treats, speaking with her and acknowledging her, letting her sleep on your bed. I'm glad you kept her. She's good for you; you needed someone you could be unreservedly affectionate with. By the way, the wine is as delicious as I've been led to expect. I'm so pleased that you remembered about it."

"Yeah, well, she grew on me. I mean, one minute I can't stand her, and the next I can't think of my life without her." Jane smirked. "She's a weird little dog, too. I swear she knows what I'm actually saying to her. But, all her weird stuff? I like it. I don't know. She's cute, you know?" She shrugged. "She's a good… dog." Jane went from a fond smile to a surprised scowled, again mostly to herself. "I'm so bad at this," she mumbled before taking a bite of her chicken.

Maura listened, eating her meal with signs of enjoyment, along with a smile that looked smaller but seemed, felt, larger by the moment. As Jane wound herself down, Maura restrained a tiny giggle. "I understand. You're not bad at communicating your feelings. You're quite good at it, in fact."

Jane slowly put her fork down. "I am, am I?" She watched Maura over the rim of her wine glass. The blonde ate delicate bites of her food with a quiet calm Jane did not feel. Taking a few sips as she tried to work out what she wanted to say next, the detective noticed the small smile playing at the corners of the blonde's lips. After Maura had finished a few bites, Jane sighed, returning the glass to the table, and putting her hands in her lap. "Well, I'm glad _one_ of us thinks so because, honestly, I have no idea what I'm thinking half the time. Care to clue me in?"

"No, I don't think I should," replied Maura thoughtfully as she continued to eat her dinner in small, neat bites. "I think... I think something is changing for you, and you're uneasy about it. You don't like feeling unbalanced or unsure of things, and that's a good trait in a detective. It helps you to remain focused on tying up all the loose ends in a case, so that, when it goes to court, you can give your evidence knowing what the facts are. But in life, it's actually good to be unsettled and uncertain once in a while. It's a sign of growth. The nervousness in your stomach is just your body's reaction to mental turmoil. But Jane," she set down her fork and stretched her hand across the table to brush against her friend's forearm, "if you can ignore your body for just a moment, ignore your mind for just a moment, and attend to your emotions, I strongly suspect that you'll find _they_ aren't in any turmoil at all. And even if they are, that's okay too."

Jane's eyes fell on the hand resting on her arm. For a breathe of time, she simply stared at the contact as her mind shut down and body tensed even more. "We… we should finish before it gets cold. I have dessert in the fridge," she said in a monotone fashion, her eyes never leaving the hand on her arm. "It's… it's uh... it's," she closed her eyes as she ran her tongue across the back of her teeth, trying to turn her brain back on. "Cannoli." She barked the word out. A peal of laughter followed. As she opened her eyes, she placed a hand on top of Maura's. "Sometimes, I'd give everything just to be half as collected as you are, Maur. Did you know that?" She gave the hand a squeeze as she gave the doctor a dimpled smile. "I'm not really hungry and clean up can wait. Want to go sit on the sofa and dig through movies with me while I… well, I… you know, I'm just going to go clean up while you finish. Okay?"

Maura's eyes flicked down to her plate, where only a bite or two of pasta remained. "I'm finished. Let me wash, and you can dry and put away. It's the least I can do for you, since you cooked that delicious meal. Besides, if I help, it'll be done faster." She spared a squeeze for Jane's forearm, then extricated herself gently and stood, collecting both plates and making for the sink to give Jane some physical space as she started doing the washing up. She was good at it, especially considering that, until spending time at Jane's, she'd never had to wash a dish by hand. All the while, she kept her body turned towards the sink, but didn't alter her usual pattern a bit, whether or not it brought her within Jane's bubble of personal space or vastly outside it. All was normal. The blonde did all she could to let Jane see that this could be an ordinary, safe night. There was no need to learn new things, change, grow, make any decisions. It was so subtle that it might have gone entirely unnoticed, which was Maura's goal. Her conversation during dish washing consisted of "Hand me that" and "Do you usually use a regular cloth or a scrubbie on this pot?" Sensible, practical considerations, designed to put Jane back at her usual ease and confidence.

It didn't take long until she was handing Jane the last plate to dry, and drying off her hands on a spare kitchen towel. "Now, about those movies. What did you have in mind?"

"Not sure." Jane made a beeline for the sofa. She kept her movies in a drawer of her of coffee table, and she opened it as she settled on her usual end. "I've got… stuff." She shook her head and closed the drawer again. "Maura," she gave a rather heavy sigh, "why didn't you ask me about what Frankie and I said about you during lunch? You normally don't let me slide like that."

Maura followed Jane to the sofa, eyes fixed on the taller woman's shoulders. Even agitated and uncertain, those shoulders were set straight with hard-earned strength and surety. She sat down with a smile, inwardly cheering as her hands-off policy of the day bore fruit. "Since you mention it, may I assume you want to discuss it?"

"Yeah, I think so." The brunette turned to face the doctor, pulling her legs up to sit cross-legged on her sofa, her back against the arm rest. "Pretty much been thinking about it since lunch, so… now or never." She gave a weak smile. "Why didn't you call me out, Maur?"

Nodding towards Jane, eyes hovering right near the middle of her body, Maura pointed out, "Body language. You've been clenched like a fist since I got here. I don't think it's anger, so it must be fear. I don't like making you afraid. You're so tense, so tight, so... closed. What you need is to find a way to relax and be comfortable." She sounded so steady, until she broke out with a plea, tension in her own throat, "I just wish I could _help_. Jane, can... Is there _anything_ I can do? Whatever you need me to do, I'll do it."

Jane gave a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, sure, just tell me how to tell my best friend that I'm actually attracted to her, and we'll just go from there." The brunette took in a deep breath and waited.

"I wish I knew," Maura replied as her breath caught, then exhaled deeply, cleansing her of at least a little of her own stress. "I've been trying to start that... Well, no. I've been trying _not_ to start that conversation for months."

"Months? That's a long time, Maura. Why didn't you… no, don't answer that. I think I already know the answer." A frown graced Jane's features. "You're right. I wasn't ready." She looked down at her hands, flexing them as she contemplated this new bit of news. "When Frankie and I were at lunch today, he said that he, Ma, and Pop had already talked about you and me as a couple. I asked him why they thought that we were seeing each other. You know what he said?" Brown eyes searched hazel. "He said the biggest reason is because I let you touch my hands." She stopped flexing them, holding her hands out toward Maura, palms up. Her eyes slid back down to examine her palms as she spoke. "Frankie said I don't even like Ma hugging me let alone let her touch my… well, hold my hands, but I let you hold them, and I never have a problem with it. I told him… I told him it's because I trust you." She chewed at her bottom lip as she remembered the conversation.

As if just mentioning her hands had created a need, Maura leaned forward and started to reach for them, but held herself back from actually touching them. "I always thought that the touching was something that best friends did. I didn't know how to ask without creating... conflicts for us both. I thought the difference wasn't in the touching, but in how it made me feel." Holding back proved a bit difficult, and eventually she did reach for Jane's hands, just the fingertips. "I imagine that's one burden removed, knowing your family aren't judging you negatively."

Jane scrunched her face up. "Ma doesn't care as long as I give her grandchildren. She's made that _perfectly_ clear. Pop just wants us kids to be happy. Frankie already thought we were dating. Tommy… let's not talk about Tommy right now." She wrapped her fingers around Maura's fingers, holding gently. "To be honest, the touch thing never occurred to me, but, when Frankie mentioned it, I realized he was right." She turned her hands, lacing her fingers with the other woman's. "Korsak and Frost call you my girlfriend, did you know that? I've heard a few of the uniforms call you my 'work wife' when they thought I couldn't hear them." She looked back up into Maura's face. "It's been there for a while, the attraction. I just didn't know. Some detective, huh?" She gave a humorless chuckle. "I can solve a murder case, but I can't figure out what's going on in my own head. Go figure."

Maura's hands warmed further as one thumb traced over the heel of Jane's hand and up her wrist. She didn't say anything for several moments, at first not knowing how, and then not having the need to speak. Her face said it all: attraction, contentedness, understanding, love. It was nothing new, but now it was identifiable by name. Several deep breaths passed as she gazed onto Jane's face, alternately with Jane's hands, and finally Maura said, "I know what they call us. It always hurt me to see your reaction to it, your denial. Not because I needed you to say that it was true - I don't want that, until and unless you're comfortable with it. But the fact that it _wasn't_ true made me feel such longing. I hated feeling like I'd never get to tell you how I felt, because your subconscious mind would never let you ask me for the truth."

"I'm sorry, M. I never meant to hurt you." Jane pulled her hands away, running them through her hair. "Okay," she closed her eyes as she, in typical detective style, ran down everything that had just happened. "So, we've admitted that we're attracted to each other. We know that the people we work with don't care. We know my family doesn't care. That leaves your family. What do you think _they_ would think if we," Jane frowned as she opened her eyes and dropped her hands to her lap. "If we actually dated? Better yet, _do_ you want to date me? I mean, you _are_ a little out of my league, and just because you're attracted to a person doesn't mean you want to date them." The uncertainty in Jane's voice was something that neither woman was accustomed to hearing.

Maura's hands followed Jane's for an inch or two after they were taken from her, then settled in her lap. "You didn't hurt me, Jane. The fact that I wasn't your girlfriend hurt me. Everyone imagined... whatever they imagined, but neither their imaginations nor mine were really enough. Now I just want y-" As she reached out to reclaim Jane's hand and pull the two of them closer together again, Angela Rizzoli's ringtone shattered the mood. Maura's eyes closed. "Damn it."

"_You_ just cursed. I can't believe!" Jane's face broke out into a huge grin. "We're going to come back to that. Hold on a second." Jane pulled her phone from her pocket. "Ma, I'm a little busy right now."

_"What? You're too busy to talk to your mother?"_

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I'm right in the middle of something. Can this wait?" Jane rolled her eyes, but reached out to capture one of Maura's hands with her free hand. Immediately Maura responded, offering her hand for warmth and support. Frustration warred with amusement in her features.

_"I was just calling to see if you and Maura were coming to gnocchi night tomorrow. Your father and I are going to the store, and I need a head count."_

Hearing Angela's strident voice easily, Maura nodded enthusiastically, as would anybody when offered Angela Rizzoli's gnocchi.

"Oh, right… gnocchi night." Jane clicked her tongue in thought as she peered over at the woman in front of her. "Yeah, we'll be there tomorrow night. What do you want us to bring?"

_"The usual is fine, and dress kind of nice."_

"No, Ma." Jane was starting to growl.

_"What? I'm just thinking of inviting over that nice boy, Jimmy, from Sam's Grocery, since Frankie told me you weren't seeing anybody... **What, Frank? **Hey, can it, if she's not seeing anyone, she can at least meet the guy! He's nice, he's handsome, he's only a year or two younger than you. He just got promoted to assistant produce manager..."_

"No, and I mean it this time. Listen, I really have to get off the phone and finish what I was doing, but just trust me when I say I'm not available to date any guy you throw at me. Now, I've got to go. I love you, and Maura and I will see you tomorrow night." With that, Jane ended the call and tossed the phone on her coffee table. "Sorry," She smirked. "Ma has the _best_ timing. Now," She took Maura's other hand. "What do you want me to do, and when can I get you to curse again? That was kind of cute."

Maura's frustration had all but evaporated by the time Jane's phone hit the coffee table. "Just have your mother call at key moments when I'm trying to work up to kissing you, and such."

"I'm sure there will be plenty of times that happens if you're actually planning on making kissing me a regular thing." Jane's eyes focused on Maura's lips. "But, I don't think she's going to call back right now."

Maura took very little time to think it over, then shook her head. "Logistically, your cross-legged sitting position will make it difficult for us to get close enough together for more than a quick peck, and I don't think a quick peck is quite sufficient for what I have in mind. If you could just..." she patted Jane's knees, shifting herself so that her own feet were down on the floor so that she could lean sideways towards Jane. During the, she kept stealing glances at Jane's mouth. Not that it was at all unusual for her to do so, but now it was out in the open that she did it, and why. "Did you know that lipstick originated in ancient Mesopotamia because the lips flush red and swell upon arousal? It's thought that it sends a signal to the viewer's primitive brain, signaling approachability and readiness. They would mix various red dyes with wax or fats to make it adhere better, and the moisturizing and emollient qualities were secondary. Because of the resemblance to the labia minora, which was probably what inspired women to begin coloring their lips in the first place, the implication was that only sexually promiscuous women would wear lipstick. It wasn't until the 1950s, when Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor helped bring the dark red lips back into favor that..."

Jane swung her legs around and leaned into Maura. She cut the doctor's rambling off with a kiss as her hands curled around the blonde's face. Passionate, but not demanding, the kiss deepened in intensity as both women relaxed into this new type of contact. With a sigh of relief, Jane pulled slightly away, "Have I ever told you I think it's cute when you do that?" The brunette moved her hands down to wrap around the back of Maura's neck while softly resting their foreheads together.

Effectively and efficiently silenced, Maura let the lecture go entirely. It seemed effortless, to go from a speaker to a doer, from thinker to feeler, but it was not without exertion, judging by the shortness of breath that quickly became apparent. As Jane leaned in, she leaned backward, acquiescing to the blessedly nonverbal demands, and when the kiss was over, her head was tilted back, mouth still open, lips visibly redder and swollen, just as she had all but promised. "Mm?" she asked, voice breathy. "Do what? Because if that's how you respond to cuteness, I'd like to do it often."

"Do your Google talk thing because you're nervous. I think it's cute. I also think it's cute when you pout and when you're confused... for the record." Jane's face light up as she smiled, her eyes sparkling. "Hey, I just kissed you and nothing horrible happened." She leaned forward to steal another kiss. "You know," she kissed Maura again. "This is kind of nice." She moved, urging the smaller woman closer to her. "We should do this more often," she chuckled as she, again, stole a kiss.

Maura rocked herself into Jane, enjoying the kiss with her entire body even as she mostly sat still, mostly kept her hands to Jane's face and shoulders, and mostly remained quiet. Mostly… Less and less… until, eventually, her fingertips were on Jane's collarbone, palms low enough to cause concern, and then she broke, very lightly pushing back. "Wait, Jane," she almost didn't say, and she looked regretful. "I need a minute. Don't go away, just... I need to think and breathe." The visible parts of her had pinkened, and all of her that was touching Jane was warmer than before. There was a wildness in her eyes that she was trying heroically to suppress. "We _should_ do this more often. Before we do anything else."

Jane smirked. It was a cocky smirk, one that was purely Rizzoli in nature. "What? You think I'm easy? No way, Dr. Isles. You're going to have to work for that." She winked. "You get to second base at most until _after_ we figure out if this is a good thing or not _and_ my mother officially knows about it." She chuckled. "Now, tell me you know what second base means, and I'll give you something neat." She waggled her eyebrows at the flushed doctor.

"I doubt you're thinking of baseball right now, and therefore it must have another meaning, but..." The blonde head shook; Maura hadn't a clue. "I wasn't suggesting anything else right now. That's my point. I just meant that this is as much as I think I can bear until _after_ I've looked your mother in the eye tomorrow night. I just need a break so that I can actually keep it like this instead of being, ah, instead of feeling internal pressure and compulsion that I don't know if I could withstand. If you'll recall, Jane, I've been aware that I wanted this for a very long time. I'm a little overwhelmed right now."

With a click of tongue and a raised eyebrow, Jane stood, the smirk still on her face. "Google it. In the meantime, I agree with you. But, will you stay? I have the cannoli, and I'm suddenly _starving_. We can watch that move Ma said I should watch. That'll give us something to talk about at dinner tomorrow. What do you think?"

Maura remained on the couch long enough for deep, long breath and slow exhalation, calming and soothing. As her skin gradually returned to its normal color, she stood up to follow Jane back to the dining table. "I think the movie's a very good idea, and dessert's even better." As she poured water glasses to drink with the sweet treat, she recovered enough of her poise to add, "But Jane, if you truly don't want to go past kissing tonight, you might want to look elsewhere while I'm eating the cannoli."

Jane chocked on… nothing. "Oh my God, Maura. You're killing me here." She tried to steady the dessert platter in her hands. "You're such a cock tease, I swear." She walked past the blonde, back to the sofa. The platter on the coffee table, Jane went about putting the movie in. "I promise to keep my eyes on the screen during cannoli eating time. I don't promise not to kiss you occasionally. Fair?"

"Serves you right," Maura grumbled with mock resentment as she set down the water glasses and snuggled back up to Jane who had finally setteled on the sofa, "Kissing me like that. Alright, it's fair. Though I should point out that, while I accept the accuracy of the moniker of 'tease', I am not a c-cock tease, unless your yoga gear conceals far more than I believe it does. Now, which movie did your mother recommend? I feel we should watch that one first, in case she asks us how we liked it."

"Way ahead of you. I already popped it in. It's called _Easy A_. It looks cute." Jane wrapped an arm around the blonde snuggled up to her. "I can't believe you just said 'cock'. This night is just _full_ of fun little surprises." She gently kissed the doctor. "I guess this means we have to actually pay attention to the movie, huh?" Her hungry eyes landed on Maura's lips.

Maura wiggled until their two bodies were nestled comfortably together. "You said it first," she pointed out as the FBI warning against movie pirating overtook the screen. "Besides, I couldn't let the incorrect terminology stand. Accuracy saves a lot of misunderstandings." She took a sip of water, but paused as she brought the glass down from her lips. "I mean, if I were to be called anything," she said, cluing into a potentially entertaining situation, "I could be called some other kind of tease." She licked her full lips slowly. "Wouldn't you say, Jane? What kind of tease would I be?" Her thumb drew across her lower lip to catch the last drip of ice water that hung there, then lightly stroked across Jane's lips where they met to share the cool moisture.

Jane released an incoherent string of syllables before clearing her throat and trying again. This time, her eyes gleamed with mischief. "You trying to be cunning, Maur? Don't think I don't see what you're doing. But, two can play at that game." As the previews rolled by on the small screen in front of them, the brunette leaned over to run her tongue along the side of Maura's neck, following the natural curve found there. Then, she gently blew across the line before nipping lightly at the tender flesh there. As the main title screen came up, Jane pulled away as if she'd done nothing and picked up the remote. "Ready for the movie to start?" The Rizzoli smirk was firmly on her face.

Maura enjoyed the moment thoroughly. She permitted herself a deep, slow breath and a breathy hum on the exhalation as she slowly exhaled. Her hands held Jane in place against her for an extra moment, then let go, eyes opening to show pupils dilated so far as to make her eyes look as dark as Jane's. Unlike Jane, she did not return immediately to the upright, nothing-to-see-here-move-it-along casualness. She remained leaning back against the couch arm, throw pillows supporting her back. One leg snuck around behind Jane's backside; the other foot rested on the floor. "Movie," she agreed with a smug smile, having gotten what she wanted out of her foray into teasing: something to tide her over. "What are we watching, again?"

"I'm not telling you again, Princess. I've already told you three times, and I know you remember." Jane shot the reclining blonde a side glance of annoyance. "You're just trying to get another rise out of me." She pointed to the screen. "Look, I'm just going to push play. Now, get over here so we can cuddle while we watch this thing." The brunette raised her arm to indicate where she wanted Maura to be.

Taking her time to fall in line, Maura moved reluctantly and sluggishly out of her open, reclining position, loathe to surrender her comfortable come-hither posture. "All right. Push play," she agreed with an admirably small amount of petulance as she took up residence under Jane's arm instead.

The opening for _Easy A_ started, and the two settled down to watch it. The occasional caress or kiss was stolen, but, for the most part, they simply enjoyed the closeness and the movie. Maura did make the occasional comment, likening the film to the classic book on which it was based, but she wasn't too disruptive; apparently her mojo could be foiled rather effectively with kisses. When it ended, Jane flipped the television off and made a move to get up.

"It's late. I should go walk Joe. You want to get ready for bed?" Maura nodded; she could easily take an hour just on her evening grooming. The detective stood and stretched, leaning backwards as she pulled her arms over her head, causing her shirt to ride up over her torso. "I'm ridiculously tired. It's like I ran a marathon or something. It's weird," she yawned. "I haven't done much today, but I'm exhausted." She walked to the door to grab the leash.

"Come on, Joe." The little dog hopped up from her doggie bed by the television and scampered over to her owner. "We'll be back in a few, Maur." With that, Jane and Joe left, closing the door softly behind them.

Maura took the opportunity to clear away the dessert dishes, feed Bass, and nip out to the car for her overnight bag. She had an outfit in Jane's closet that she could wear on the morrow, but grooming supplies still had to be schlepped back and forth; she hadn't gotten quite _that_ bold yet. She did, however, nudge Jane's toothbrush and cup over a little bit to put her own there, and mentally mark out space in the medicine chest that she might be able to take without inconveniencing her friend... girlfriend... without inconveniencing Jane.

Next Maura opened Jane's laptop and performed a quick Google search on something that had confused her before. "Baseball metaphors for sex," she read, and then delved into the details. Her brows lifted, more than once, as she absorbed the information. Within five minutes, she had enough to go on, and so she shut down and continued with her toilette.

Teeth: brushed. Face: cleansed, scrubbed, toned, moisturized. Body: Showered, exfoliated, shaved, lotioned, with an array of scented products that worked harmoniously together. Nails: cleaned beneath, trimmed short, filed, denuded of polish. No ancient king's new princess or courtesan had ever been pampered and groomed half so well as Maura Isles, and that was just with her travel kit. She could get even more sybaritic when at home, surrounded by all her supplies.

Finally she headed into Jane's bedroom and sighed, ending in a laugh. Clearly Jane had awakened a bit late today; the covers were still in disarray. Maura elected to remake the bed entirely so that it was smooth and welcoming when the woman returned. Once that was done, she stood staring at it for several minutes, biting her lip, then gave up and headed back out to the living room sofa.

"Good God, woman, you take a long time in the bathroom." Jane was standing by the counter drinking a glass of water as Maura walked out of the bedroom. "I'd ask what you do in there, but I'm not sure I want to know." She set the glass down and strode over to the blonde to place a kiss on the lips she had been daydreaming about during her walk with Joe. "You know, I've been thinking," she said as she snaked her arms around Maura's waist. "Maybe it'd be easier on you if you just left some supplies over here? I saw you pull your bag out of the car. It, and you, are here enough that maybe it should just stay. What do you think?"

Sinking into the kiss with very gratifying pliancy, Maura wrapped her arms around Jane's waist. "It would be easier," she agreed, "And perhaps you could do the same for when you stay with me? In my bathroom, I mean, not the guest bath," since the guest bath and bedroom were now, by default, Jane's. "As for my grooming time frame, I take as long as I need in order to maintain my standard of cleanliness and appearance. Eventually, I hope you'll find reason to be grateful for every minute I spend in there."

"In the meantime," the shorter woman continued, stealing her hands into Jane's and tugging gently, "I looked up baseball metaphors for sexual experiences. Apparently there is some discrepancy as to what constitutes each 'base'. Perhaps you could help me understand by demonstrating what you feel is the appropriate level of intimacy?"

Jane's eyebrows shot up. "Sounds like fun." She pulled her hands back. "But, it's my turn to get ready for bed." Her head tilted to the side, she smiled lightly. "After that, I'd be happy to teach you _my_ definition of second base." She gave a chuckle as she turned toward the bathroom.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, Maura awoke an hour before Jane's alarm was set to ring, tired but energized, and with a feeling that she couldn't readily identify. It wasn't until she had finished her morning toilette, all but the lipstick, which she would put on after breakfast, that it came to her. She was pulling the outer layer over her muted teal silk sweater-dress and slipping into the peep-toe pumps, when she finally put a name to it. _Satisfied._ Throughout her adult life, Maura had the occasional semi-sexual liaison, who had given her excellent stimulation (usually), but this was quite different. For one thing, there had been no attempt at actual sex - everything had stayed above the waist, and they'd been slow and unhurried - and yet that tentative exploration had left her feeling more satisfied than any other encounter she had ever had.

Was it because Jane was a woman? That was part of it, Maura knew, because unlike most men, most women wouldn't pressure her or make her feel bad when she inevitably put the brakes on. Whether that happened before a first kiss was exchanged, or not until the undergarments were removed, a woman was able to handle with aplomb the medical diagnosis, fainting spell, or "I'm sorry, I can't" that had always come up. Some of them even called her back to try to maintain some sort of friendship or potential relationship for a few days or weeks after a failed attempt to get to the point of physical contact _after_ nudity.

Was it because Jane was her friend, and not her date of the moment? Probably. It was that, and not Jane's insistence that she was straight, was what had kept Maura so hands-off for so long. Maura needed her friendship more than she'd ever realized she could need a friendship, and she didn't want that to end because of physical intimacy, as so often happened. Their intimacy was already well established, and most of it was not physical. True, they were the most handsy people in the history of the world, according to Barry and Vince - though Maura was always quick to tell them that they were engaging in outrageous hyperbole, and to please be quiet on the subject when Jane returned from her coffee run or wherever she'd gone. But the hands, the touching, the physical closeness, was merely an extension of communication for them. It was their way of adding italics, underlines, and boldface to their spoken words, and sometimes even of adding entire paragraphs by shorthand. _Short-hand_, Maura thought, and it made her smile as she fluffed her hair in the mirror.

Joe Friday was looking mournful. Maura picked up her leash and suggested a morning constitutional, to which Joe was receptive once Maura explained that it was another word for walk. The two of them enjoyed the crisp morning before the neighborhood awakened, waving at various folk on their way to work or out to pick up the newspaper. Maura paused patiently while Joe attended to the practical purpose of the walk, and bagged the evidence. "I could get used to this," she confided in the scruffy dog. "You and I, Joe, what do you think? Mornings for me, evenings for Jane?" As they returned, Maura let Joe loose to follow her to the food bowls where she took her little doggie meals.

In the kitchen, Maura continued her inner monologue as she started cracking eggs for omelets. The touching wasn't even the first thing that had drawn attention and comments, she remembered. Their eyes had been first. They looked a little too long, stood a little too close, lowered their voices together as if every conversation, no matter how mundane, was something special and private between them. She'd felt it happening, part of her awareness always analyzing, and yet she hadn't stopped it. She could have kept a rein on that telegraphing of desire and the assumption of nearness, but some part of her actively chose to continue, if not to escalate, these little liberties that she and Jane continued to take with one another. No wonder people were so quick to interpret them as a couple, to assume that their physical compatibility had led to sexual compatibility.

Oh, and they would be compatible, Maura knew beyond shadow of a doubt. She was utterly confident that the two of them would be amazing together. She could tell by the way their kisses worked so well, the way their hands always drew the expected responses, or better. For once, Maura didn't feel any need to put a stop to anything. If they kept going, slowly but surely, she knew the moment would come, and she would be ready for it. _Ready for Jane_. She also didn't need to hurry and try to push herself while the first blush of passion was upon her. She could wait a day, a month, a year, even longer. Just kissing Jane would never get old.

Which was good, because Maura knew that while she absolutely wanted Jane, she would need to take all of this in small increments, work up to each increase in sexual intimacy levels. She'd never seen any reason to give Jane a medical diagnosis, never actually spent time looking for faults and excuses to stop seeing her or considering her as a potential romantic or sexual partner. That alone told her that, whatever else happened, Jane was the person that Maura had subconsciously already chosen. There was nothing Jane could ever ask, or want without asking, that Maura wouldn't want to give her.

Having beaten the eggs and let them rest, chopped vegetables, and grated cheese for the _mis en place,_ Maura tiptoed back to the bedroom to gaze at her... Jane... for a moment before slipping onto the bed beside the sleep-warmed body. She didn't speak, knowing that the movement alone would accomplish her goal.

* * *

Jane could hear Maura moving around in the kitchen, but she didn't feel the need to get up or move. She wanted to drag her half sleep out as long as possible. The night before had been great, and she kept replaying the highlights in her mind's eye, smiling broadly into her pillow. Maura's touch above the waist alone had nearly driven her crazy, and she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if… no… not if… _when_ things moved to something a little bigger than second base. Whatever it was going to be like, she was pretty sure it was going to be _awesome_.

For a time, as she listened to the very light noises coming from the other room while she simply let her mind drift through her memories of all the time she'd spent with Maura. After a fashion, she mentally kicked herself. She'd been flirting with the doctor for almost as long as they'd been working together. Why she didn't see it…? No, she knew why.

She sighed. Work was going to be hard to deal with. She had no desire to hide anything, but, on the same hand, the other officers were going to use this against her, and she really didn't want to deal with that. But… but she wasn't ashamed of Maura. She had meant that when she had said it the day before. In fact, lying in her bed, inhaling the light scent of Maura's body that had lingered on the sheets and her skin, she couldn't imagine why _anyone_ would be ashamed of such an amazing woman.

The thought made her angry. She hated it that so many people they worked with or were around on a regular basis mistreated her… her _girlfriend._ Oh. Well, she'd have to ask Maura about that to be sure, but she was pretty sure that was right. If she was honest with herself, somewhere in the back of her mind she'd been thinking about the blonde in that way for a while now.

Maura was who she went to when she needed emotional support. She was the person that helped calm her fears when Hoyt's nightmares became too much. She was the only one who was allowed to sooth the near constant pain in Jane's hands. She was the person Jane allowed to get close. She was the one who… _She's just the one_.

The thought didn't scare the brunette like she was sure it would. Instead, she just felt warm and fuzzy. If Maura was the one her subconscious had decided on without telling her about it until now, she wasn't going to fight it. She was done fighting it. Screw everyone and what they thought. Sometimes, you just have to punch your way through, as one of her favorite television characters had once pointed out. That thought made her grin. She wondered if Maura knew exactly how much of a nerd she was. But, it didn't matter, really.

After all, Maura would always be there for her… with her… supporting her, being her partner. She was certain of it. It was one of the few things she had no doubts about.

As the bed dipped and she felt Maura slide back in and against her, she gave a contented sigh. "_I'm the better cop, and I have the better woman. They're just jealous. They can deal,"_ she thought as she turned over to great the other woman with a smile and light peck on the cheek.


	7. Chapter 7

"Good morning, sunshine." The detective snuggled into the crook of Maura's neck. "I see you're already dressed. How long have I been asleep?"

Maura's smile, small and soft, glowed as she leaned in to kiss Jane's cheeks, forehead, and nose. Not the lips; first thing in the morning, no one, she was sure, felt secure enough to share their morning breath, so she wouldn't be the one to embarrass Jane. "Long enough, I hope. Your alarm will ring in approximately two minutes. I didn't want it jarring you awake, after such a lovely night."

Jane gave an approving _mmm_ sound as she snuggled in closer. "Good plan."

Maura reached out to turn off the clock before it could startle them both. "Breakfast is ready to throw on the stove. I've walked and fed Joe, so there's just us to look after now. If you take your usual amount of time dressing, I can have the omelets perfect by the time you're done. That should give us time to consider, I mean discuss... work." There it was, Jane's bugaboo: the office. Insinuations, backup forces not arriving as soon as they could have, their friendship called all sorts of things that it wasn't, and a few things that it was. Maura would never be able to lie about it if asked, but she could keep herself in the morgue, where few came other than to view autopsies or demand results before the results were ready. Even fewer spoke to her directly; only Frost and Korsak would ever even consider asking her a personal question. Maybe she could hide - no, _protect_ what they had, keep it sacred and quiet until they were both sure of themselves.

_Until Jane was sure_. Maura was already quite certain what she wanted this to be. _My lover_. The thought rolled around in her mind as she stroked her fingertips across Jane's exposed arm and shoulder, down the wrist to fingertips, palms, back up the inside of the pulse point. Did it matter that actual lovemaking had not occurred? Not as much as she'd always thought. She already felt different.

"Okay, but if there's no coffee with that omelet, I may be forced to get rough." Jane chuckled, kissing Maura on the cheek as she moved to sit up. "Thanks for taking care of Joe." She hopped out of bed. "And me." She winked. As she moved to the end of the bed, her expression fell quickly into something far more serious than she had been just a moment before. "Maur, don't worry. It'll be fine." She made her way into the bathroom to get ready for the day without another word.

"I know," whispered Maura, smile decorating her face as she stretched languorously, then stood to go down and start the omelets.

* * *

It wasn't that Jane considered herself a women's lib advocate, though her job would certainly give argument to the idea that she was heavily into such ideals. It was just that Jane naturally put men and women in equal standing. So, as she walked out of her bedroom after getting ready for work, she took herself by surprise at how much it pleased her to see Maura standing in her kitchen finishing up breakfast.

In fact, the detective mentally smacked herself as her brain ran through all the cute little aprons she'd love to see Maura wearing while working in the kitchen. They had just kissed for the first time last night. When had she started mentally domesticating them? What's worse, when had she made Maura 'the little woman' in her mind? The thought disturbed her a little, that she would put her ME into the kitchen like that.

"Hey, it smells good." With a slightly forced smile, the brunette made her way to the coffee pot. "And, you made coffee! You get bonus points for that." She gave Maura a kiss before beginning to pour a cup.

Maura turned around, spatula in hand, to lay a steaming hot omelette on a plate, which she'd set in the warming oven on low. Jane smirked as she noticed Maura was, in fact, wearing an apron, the tied bow at the back having been concealed by the height of the kitchen countertop behind her. It was the sort worn in professional kitchens, plain in color, thick, expansive over her upper and lower body, with no cute slogans or images. Despite herself, Jane made a mental note to buy one with something cute on it… maybe slightly frilly. The detective shook her head. The apron Maura had on was a serious apron. "Mm, kisses. Have your coffee; I already had mine. Here, sit." The blonde cut off the cheesy corner of the omlet and offered it to Jane before handing her the fork. "Taste. Do you like? It's spinach, manchego cheese - that's from Spain - and mushrooms." Jane nodded in appreciation. The second omelet pan was ready by now, and she slid her own onto the second warmed plate to take to the table and eat with Jane. Cleanup would happen later. This one time, she could leave it in the interest of focusing on digesting and discussing. She wouldn't bring it up, though. She'd already alluded to the necessary talk, up in the bedroom. The ball was served, and it was up to Jane to return volley.

"This is really good, Maur. When did you manage to get this stuff into my fridge?" Jane looked up from her plate. "There's no way any of this made its way here by itself, and Ma only buys things that go in Italian food." She smirked.

Joe barked and ran around in a circle as Maura explained, "I picked it up on the way over, and left it in the trunk with my overnight bag until you went out to walk Joe last night. Good nutrition is important, especially when you want to be very alert, as both our jobs demand." There, one more hint about the job. She couldn't do more without pushing, though impatiently she did think it might be necessary.

"Yeah, so you keep telling me, like every day." Jane took a sip of coffee. "You know, you could just ask me, Maur. If we're going to do this for real, and I'm thinking we are, you should probably get used to the idea of just asking me questions instead of beating around the bush. I can take it. You have met my family, right?" Another sip of coffee. "I know you can't lie, and, if I know you like I think I do, I bet you're trying to figure out a way to hide out in the morgue, right?" She narrowed her eyes. "Don't."

Maura shrunk into her shoulders, face and neck turning pink. "Yes. Not for my sake, Jane, never for me. I just know how much it upsets you when people think that you're a lesbian." Mentally, she added. "I don't want to give them any more reasons to taunt you and hurt you. You should be comfortable in your workplace, as much as possible. It's hard enough being one of the few women in the precinct. You don't need to be any more different."

Jane took a bite of her breakfast, slowly chewing as she thought through what she was about to say. The pause was longer than the detective intended, but what she said next would determine the course of how everything was going to be from here on out. "Maura, I'm an all or nothing kind of person. I don't do anything halfway. In for a penny, in for a pound. I know you've heard me say that before." She gave a weak smirk. "You remember that time I downed six shots of tequila in less than 3 minutes because everyone said I couldn't do it?"

Maura nodded. "That was dangerous, foolhardy, and... and _stupid_. You could have been seriously harmed, if not by the drink itself, then by choices that you might have made while impaired by the alcohol."

Jane's face slowly moved from a slight smirk to contemplative. "Bad example. That _was_ reckless. This," she motioned between them. "This isn't reckless. _This_ is a long time coming." A heavy sigh escaped from the brunette. "I'm not going to stop how we normally are because I might have to grow a thicker skin. Besides, you can't get mad when it's the truth, right?"

Maura's head bobbed. "Then I'm ready. I have no more questions. No, wait, I'm wrong. I have one more. If you do get bothered by anything that anyone says, will you come find me and tell me about it?"

Jane ran a hand across the back of her neck, squirming slightly in her chair. "I can't make any promises." Again, she sighed. "Besides, don't I already do that?" She gave soft chuckle, her dark eyes giving away the fact that she was thinking about something important that she still needed to say to the woman in front of her. "You know, yesterday I told you that I didn't like it when people said things that weren't true… especially about you." She gazed down at her plate, avoiding eye contact for a moment. "Truthfully, I was more upset that I don't hide it well than I was that I was being called a… a lesbian." She had said it. Her hands shook, and she put the fork down to keep the tremors from being too noticeable.

Quickly, Maura set down her fork and reached out to steady Jane. "I wondered if you would ever say that. I'm just so..." She broke off, sniffling and smiling, as her amygdala took charge of her lacrimal glands. "Jane, I'm so proud." She let that rest for a moment before standing, embracing Jane around the shoulders while the detective was still seated, and then clearing away the breakfast things. With another sniff, she put the pregnant moment aside just enough to say, "Let's go to work. I'll stop off and feed Bass, and meet you there. Unless you want to ride together?"

"I need a moment, okay? I'll meet you at the station." Jane remained seated, eyes on the table. It took an obvious effort on her part for her to meet Maura's gaze, and the blush on her face deepened. "I'll bring the coffee, okay?"


	8. Chapter 8

Maura arrived at the station, choosing to go in the front door to say good morning to anyone she happened to pass along the way. She'd stopped on the way to pick up a pair of salads (salade Nicoise) at one of her favorite places, and the extra tall take-away bag dangled from her fingers as she waved towards Lieutenant Cavanaugh and Vince Korsak. Barry Frost came in on her heels, just barely too late to offer to hold the door, but she turned to give him a smile as well. "Good morning, gentlemen. How are you?"

Cavanaugh waved backward over his shoulder as he headed into his office to silence the ringing phone that heralded the start of an annoying new day. Barry started to apologize for not hurrying to open the door, but Vince cut him off. "Whoa, Doc, nice hickey. Hot date last night?" He nodded in Maura's direction for Frost's benefit, eyes zeroing in on the evidence. Frost's eyes widened; he smirked, then quickly squelched the expression. Looking at his partner like that was fine - they gave each other crap all the time - but Doc Isles was a lady. Still, she was becoming a friend, and he couldn't resist at least a little remark to acknowledge the occasion. "Sorry for Korsak here, Doc. He's still fourteen years old. He's just big for his age."

Maura turned around, head tilted speculatively, a little smile twinkling under her expression, which she deliberately did not school to complete blandness. "Yes," she answered Korsak with full honesty and a mischievous smile, eyebrow lifted as if daring him to ask for details, though she knew he wouldn't. She bent over Jane's desk to scribble on a Post-It, _I brought a lunch for you from our salad place_, and stuck it to her monitor where it couldn't be missed.

"Watch it, Frost," Korsak threw the detective a hard look. "I wonder where Jane is? She's late. Cavanaugh's going to…"

"To do what?" Jane strolled into the squad room, two coffee cups in her hand. "Hey, Maur, here's your coffee." She smiled brightly as she handed over the cup.

"You know he hates it when we're late, Jane." Frost moved to his desk, trying to keep his partner from getting out of her good mood by keeping his tone light and somewhat teasing.

"Good thing I'm not late then, huh?" She plopped down in her chair, looking from the Post-It note to Maura. "Salad?" Maura nodded back and started to explain about the health benefits of a diet rich in leafy green vegetables. Jane shook her head. "Korak, why are you threatening my partner anyway?"

"I wasn't. I was just commenting on Doctor Isles's newest accessory." He threw a knowing smile over to Frost.

"What?" Jane quirked an eyebrow as she looked the blonde over.

"Doctor Isles has a hickey." Frost said with more mirth than he probably should have.

Panic filled Jane's eyes and voice. "Oh shit!" She quickly stood up from her desk, reaching out to touch Maura's chin, turning the smaller woman's head so she could get a better look at the hickey in question. "Oh no, Maura…" She flinched, an apologetic look on her face.

Maura lifted her chin and turned her head slightly, displaying the mark that was just barely visible above the collar of her blazer. "It's just a little subcutaneous hematoma," she said reassuringly, though she smiled as the examination continued. "I don't mind. If I minded, I'd have put on a scarf, or worn a dress with a higher neckline. It's fine, Jane."

Frost smirked, saying very quietly to Vince, "They're not even _trying_ anymore."

"Making it too easy," Korsak replied, though it was obvious neither one took it seriously anymore. Teasing was just fun; if they'd thought there was actually anything to it, not a single word would ever have been exchanged about Jane, or the doctor, let alone both. Korsak turned back to his computer and mentioned, "Oh, Rizzoli, the night shift caught your boy in the act this time. He's in lockup. Case is all but solved."

"Did you know that hickeys may have originally been given because of primitive man's desire to mark his belongings and territory? It sounds a little barbaric, but if you think about it a little more, it's like he's saying 'This is mine and I will protect it, so hands off.'" Maura smiled as the boys went right back to their day, her expression silently suggesting that Jane let it go. She did whisper, as Frost began shuffling through the paperwork that was waiting for him, "Let's see how long it takes."

Jane scowled for a moment and then shrugged. "Three days? Four, tops," she softly replied, dropping her hand and sitting back down, calling out to Korsak as she settled. "Well, damn, I should take a night off more often." She opened her web browser, giving Maura a furtive glance. "I'm addicted." She nodded toward the Twitter homepage as it came up. "I'll see you at lunch?"

Maura nodded her agreement and slipped away to the morgue, her own territory, which she daily marked with her body spray and her sense of order. There were no new bodies to autopsy, and she was mostly caught up with paperwork... maybe a little Twittering and shoe shopping would be okay. She opened her laptop and pulled up her browser and checked for new messages.

* * *

_"Janie, when you and Maura come over tonight, make sure to bring the bread, and dress nice. I know Maura will, but you always looks so… so NOT put together. Also, you make sure to remind Frankie. Sometimes he forgets about gnocchinight, and I don't want your father to have to go hunt him down like he had to last time."_

Jane rolled her eyes and groaned as she listened to her mother on the other end of the line. She was trying to fix her and Maura's coffee while balancing her phone on her shoulder, and it was proving harder than she liked. Finally, giving up the idea, she held the phone with her right hand while fixing the coffee with her left.

_"Jane, are you listening to me?"_

"Yeah, Ma, I'm listening. Bring Maura and the bread, dress nice, and remember to tell Frankie to come. I got it." Successful with her coffee endeavor, she made her way toward the morgue. "I was serious about not setting me up, Ma. You better not be setting me up."

_"Why would I do that? You made it pretty clear you didn't want me to do that tonight."_

"Or ever." She took the stairs to keep from dropping the call. Her footsteps echoed hollowly as she moved down the flights.

_"If you would start dating someone, I'd stop trying to set you up."_

"Maybe I _am_ dating someone? Did you ever think about that?" Jane cringed, mentally kicking herself. How was it that she was suddenly so okay with just talking about this… whatever this was with Maura? They hadn't even labeled it yet. Walking into the morgue, she made eye contact with Maura indicating she should listen in on the conversation. "Maybe that's why I don't want you setting me up anymore."

_"Well, for Heaven's Sake, Jane, if you're seeing someone, why didn't you tell me? I'm your **mother**, you know you can tell me anything. So, who is he? What does he do? How long have you been seeing him? Why didn't you tell me before now?"_

Jane sighed, handing a cup of coffee to Maura. "You already know 'em… a doctor… it's complicated and kinda new. Very new. Now, look, I have to go." The brunette rushed through the rest of her call, not letting her mother say another word. "We just finished up a case, so I have to finish the paperwork in the 2 hours I have before Maura and I have to be at the house. I'll see you in a little bit. Got to go, Ma. Love you!" With a quick flick of her thumb, she ended the call. "Ten bucks says she calls me back in less than a minute."

Maura didn't even look up from the files she had begun to clean and reorganize. "Is that what they call a sucker bet? I always wondered. Is that decaf?" she broke off as the smell of hot coffee hit her, and she smiled at the sight of her... Jane. "So, I take it you're taking infant steps with your family, for now. I can do that."

"Yes, yes, and yes." Jane leaned against the desk, holding her phone expectantly in her hand. As if on cue, it rang out with Angela Rizzoli's ringtone, _Do you have the time to listen to me whine…_. "Hi, Ma."

_"Jane Angela Rizzoli, you cannot drop something like that and then just hang up on me."_ Jane sighed heavily, taking a sip of her coffee. _"Now, spit it out. Who are they?"_

The lack of a definitive pronoun did not go unnoticed by Jane, and she repeated it to make sure that Maura heard what was going on. "What do you mean 'who are they'?" She took another long sip of coffee as she waited for her mother to finish.

_"You heard me. Who are they? You can't tell me you're dating a doctor… **that I've already met** …and then not tell me who they are. Now you come clean right this instant, or I'm coming down there to see what's going on for myself. Honestly, you and your brothers are going to be death of me… always trying to make things harder than they have to be and trying to hide things from your mother. Do you really think you'd be able to hide something like this from me forever, Jane? You know, I'd eventually figure it out. Is it so hard for you to just tell me you're dating Maura?" _Jane did a spit take into her coffee cup, too stunned to reply back, and Angela was too much on a ranting roll to notice what had slipped out of her mouth. _"I mean, come on, it's not like we don't know what going on with you two even if you don't know what's going with you two. Now, you be here on time… with your girlfriend and your brother …or I'm going to hunt all of you down myself… forget about your father. Do you hear me, Jane?_

"With my… my… my _girlfriend_?" It was the only thing Jane could manage to reply with. Maura's head snapped up and towards the phone in Jane's hand, as if she could read Angela's expression through it.

_"What? Did I stutter? You three better be here. On time. 8 o'clock. Got it?"_

"Uh… yeah… yeah, I got it, Ma." Jane was starting to blink rapidly, and her breathing was getting quicker. Panic. She definitely starting to panic. She quickly wondered if this was what it was like just before someone started to hyperventilate. "We'll all be there." Maura began gesturing with both hands, miming slow, deep breaths. It looked like a slow-motion Lamaze tutorial.

_"Good. Now, I love you, and I'll see you tonight."_

The phone went dead. Jane slowly slid down the front of the desk until her bottom made contact with the floor. Coffee forgotten where it sat on the desk, her hand that held her cell phone fell limply to her side as her other hand held stiffly to the desk's leg. "Oh God."

"Breathe," Maura repeated, aloud this time, along with the gesture. "Breathe. In... out... Jane, look at me. Look." She waited until Jane's panicked eyes settled on hers, then promised quietly and with great certitude, "This will be fine. She knows, and she's already to the point of acceptance. Better than we could have ever hoped. This is okay. We're okay. I have your back."

"Girlfriend?" The word squeaked out of Jane's throat. Her eyes searched Maura's, questioning. She closed them, inhaling deeply a few times, trying to pull herself back together. "You're right." She reached for the desk to pull herself up. "You're right, Maura." She slowly rose. "I'm just… I guess I should call Frankie and… I mean, I should," she started to wander toward the door, still in something of a daze. She only made it a few steps before she turned back around to face the doctor "Maura, are you my girlfriend?" Uncertainty and something… fear perhaps …were thick in her voice.

Maura froze as Jane stepped away from her, confusion and crushed alarm coloring her concern, and that was the expression she wore when Jane turned back to her. "I'm... God, Jane," she said after a long silence, carried along by a quick exhalation that was almost, but not quite, a chuckle. "I really hope so. That is, I hope I'm what that word means to me. Are we friends? Very close friends? Particular friends?" Her own words provided stability for her, and trepidation lessened as they went on. "Intimate friends?"

"Uh… what?" Jane was slowly coming back to herself. "Intimate friends? What is that? Like 'friends with benefits or something?" She started to cross her arms, but stopped. Instead, she walked back to the doctor. "I don't do friends with benefits, Maur." She gave a small smile. "And, I always think it's a good idea to be friends with whoever I'm dating before I actually date them." She shrugged. "It just makes sense to me."

Maura smiled as she explained, holding out her hands until Jane took them. "Intimate friends means that you're my _best friend_," she said, putting special emphasis on the words, charging them with richness and depth, "and that I would share with you things that I could never share with anyone else. It means that I'm very, very relieved that your mother seems to approve of us, because I wouldn't want to come between you and your family. It means that we know one another so well that when we talk, other people can barely understand us. It means that when you look at me, when we look at each other, people outside of our very particular friendship look away, because they're embarrassed to intrude on what we have. It means that when people tease us, it's because deep down they know what we feel, even before we know it ourselves, and they wish they had something that was as good as this."

Jane reached a hand tentatively out to rest it on Maura's neck near the mark she had put there the night before. Her eyes followed and remained on the bruised patch of skin for a few lingering moments. "So… the answer is 'yes', isn't it?" She made eye contact again, her eyes tender… less panicked, more assured. Her fingers lightly brushed the mark where it was visible over the blonde's collar.

"Yes." Maura's head tilted back to allow greater access to the mark Jane had made on her, the visible sign of ownership, of protection. "If that's what you want to call me, then that's what I am. Your girlfriend, your intimate friend, your particular friend, your lover... I don't care what the noun is, as long as you make sure that the pronoun is in possessive form."

It was the last sentence that made Jane break out into a genuine and relieved smile. "I think I can do that." Her eyes ghosted over the exposed expanse of neck before her. Carefully, she bent over, placing a kiss over her mark before pulling back to lay an almost dainty kiss on Maura's lips. Suppressing a shiver, Maura welcomed the kisses by going pliant for a pleasurable moment, then straightened. "But, I'm going to call you my girlfriend, okay?" The smile widened. "I kind of like it." She pulled back, letting go of the smaller woman and grabbing her coffee cup. "I have to go back to work. Pick you up at 7:30?" She waiting, watching the doctor over the brim of her cup.

Maura nodded, a smile playing across her features. "Seven-thirty. I'll be ready. And Jane? I like 'girlfriend', too."


	9. Chapter 9

Jane walked into the squad room with a big, goofy grin on her face.

"What's got you all smiles, Rizzoli?" Frost was at the shredder and couldn't resist giving his partner a little jab.

"None of your business," Jane shot back. "Why you got to be nosy?"

"Hey, come on, I'm allowed to ask why my partner's so happy all of a sudden."

"It's gnocchi night. Why wouldn't she be happy?" Frankie walked into the room carrying a small box in his hands. "Hey, sis, brought you something."

"Yeah?" She gave the box a questioning glare. "That thing's not going to explode or something, is it?"

"No." He handed it to her. "Open it." She opened the box to find a sugar cookie with a rainbow made of icing adorning the top of it. She gave her brother a look somewhere between a question and a threat. "They were all out of unicorns." He smirked back at her.

"Funny." She pulled the cookie out and took a big bite. "Good, though." A few cookie crumbles spewed forth to land on Frankie's uniform. "Sorry," she mumbled around cookie as she brushed his shirt off.

"Ma called me. She said you and your… uh, Maura were coming tonight. That true?"

She swallowed. "Yeah, it's true." She waited, holding the partially eaten cookie in her hand.

Her brother gave her a smile. "Bout time. Happy for you sis. I'll see you and the doc tonight." He left, nodding bye to Frost as he went. Jane finished her cookie before going back to work. She had less than two hours to finish the paperwork, and she was determined to pick Maura up on time.

Frost lifted his eyebrow at the exchange and glanced back towards Korsak, who was listening with his customary open mouth. When he noticed Frost noticing him, however, Korsak guiltily snapped his mouth shut, then barked, "What are you looking at, Frost? No, she didn't bring enough to share with the whole class. Don't you got something to do?" Frost concealed his smirk. So that was how they were going to play it. Silence? He was down with that. "Whatever, Korsak. Don't you have some cute puppy videos to watch while the rest of us work?" Just like that, it was done.

* * *

Maura opened the door at precisely 7:29, smiling at the implication. Jane was seldom on time for gnocchi night, always dragging her feet, but tonight her time management indicated a certain eagerness to which Maura knew she would never admit. "Hello, Jane," she said in the low, softened voice that only Jane ever heard. When had she started doing that? She wasn't certain. It had been entirely subconscious rather than planned, unlike most of the other times she'd tried to make advances towards someone.

The medical examiner had dressed with great care tonight, planning an outfit that managed to straddle all the tangled lines between date night and family night, between meeting the parents and putting a working-class crowd at ease. She'd gone with a cigarette skirt of very dark denim, a deep cranberry red blouse that parted to reveal an expanse of freckled chest and a peek of camisole lace. Maura took especial pride in the choice of the skirt. It said, _I may be sexy, but these legs don't part easily._ Just the sort of message that one's girlfriend's parents would appreciate. She hoped. Then again, Jane's attire had another message. It said, or so Maura interpreted, _I am so gorgeous, so hot, and so aware of it that if we don't leave for my mother's gnocchi night right now, we're going to miss it entirely._ "You look beautiful," Maura said aloud with complete honesty.

Jane glanced down at her outfit: a pair of dark, well fitted jeans, an equally well fitted black button down blouse that had hints of lace here and there with the buttons unbuttoned enough to outline an oversized silver and turquoise necklace, a few silver bracelets on one hand, a watch on the other, and knee high black boots that she'd pulled on over her jeans. She had washed her hair and blown it dry. Not having any real time to do much more with it, she'd thrown some product in it allowing the natural waves and curls to rule the overall look. Really, the only thing she'd taken time to do was apply makeup. It was clear she was puzzled by what Maura had just said. "I, uh… thank you?" She ran her eyes down Maura's form. "You look amazing." She chuckled. "You always look amazing." She stepped aside, motioning for the doctor to step outside. "Ready to go? Ma will kill us if we're late."

Maura stepped outside past Jane, slowly enough that they brushed one another's bodies in the doorway. "If that were true, you'd be dead every single week, and yet you look remarkably alive and... healthy, to me," she responded with warmth. "By the way," she mentioned just before stepping into the car, "I fed Bass." Shorthand: I'm free to stay over.

A gasp escaped Jane's lips at the brief contact. "Maybe," she cleared her throat. "You fed… Oh, right. Good." She smiled, hurrying to the car. "The night's looking up."


	10. Chapter 10

The door was unlocked when Jane tried it. "I keep telling her to lock this thing." She grumbled as they walked inside. "Ma! We're here!" It was 7:45, the house smelled of good food, and the brunette was practically strutting toward the kitchen. "Early!" She leaned over to whisper to the blonde on her arm. "Ma's going to _freak._ I totally rock."

"Yes, you do," Maura replied in a low murmur as she slipped her hand down from Jane's arm and into her hand. Raising her voice to a more conversational tone, she added, "Good evening, Mrs. Rizzoli, Mr. Rizzoli. I'm so glad that the smell that pulled us up the sidewalk was coming out of your oven." She walked right for the kitchen, unbuttoning the sleeves of her blouse in preparation for assisting. Angela was elbow deep in the gnocchi, and couldn't act quickly enough to stop Maura as she started washing the preparation utensils and vessels that had been used earlier for making the sauce, the salad, and the garlic bread. "Let me do this, Mrs. Rizzoli" she urged gently, "since the gnocchi requires so much more skill than the washing up."

Angela pulled washed hands in the warm water, dried them, and immediately scooped Maura into a warm, breasty hug. "From now on, Maura, you call me Ma. Now, look, Frank doesn't know, but he won't mind. He forgot to fill up the gas tank and left me stranded again at the supermarket, so he can wait a little longer. Serves him right. Now, tell the truth, how long have you and my Janie been together, without telling me a thing?"

Maura smiled, and though she blushed, seemed to enjoy the hug as much as she enjoyed its ending. When her hands were free again, she plunged them right into the warm, soapy water to wash up the utensils, glad to have something to do with them. It kept her from feeling awkward just standing there while others did things for her. _Ironically, I'd have probably been fine if I hadn't been reared in quite so affluent a lifestyle_, she realized. "Only since yesterday," she said truthfully, "though for a long time I'd been hoping."

"Yesterday? Are you kidding me?" Angela demanded, laughing incredulously. "No way. I thought yesterday was when you finally decided to tell everybody the truth about it. Everybody but me, of course. Your own mother." She glanced toward Jane. "Well, Jane's own mother, but I'm claiming you, too. You're my first daughter in law. Except it's not in law yet, is it? Daughter... daughter _outlaw_. Hey, outlaw, that's funny! Because Jane's a cop, you get it?" Maura could only laugh.

Jane let out a groan and rolled her eyes, choosing to say nothing. Instead, she started working on the sides for dinner.

* * *

"JANIE!" Frank called from the living room, "Get in here! The game's almost over, and the Celtics are up by eleven! Hey, did you bring the Doc with you? I got a question for you about her." As the game cut to commercial, he hauled himself off the sofa and tried to nudge Jane aside. "I fixed the bathroom for this fancy law firm. I know the guy who owns it. Turns out we went to school together, and now he's some big shot lawyer, right? Well, he lost his wife a couple years back. I met him today, he seemed like a good guy. I'm thinking maybe I should bring him around next week for gnocchi. Think he'd like the Doc. What do you think? She seeing anybody?"

His daughter made an anguished face. "I think… that she's seeing someone, Pop." She leaned a little away from her father. "But, you're sweet to think about her like that." After a heartbeat of thought, she added, "When did you start playing match maker? I thought that was Ma's department."

Frank tried to make out like it was nothing, but he seemed pleased, as any secret teddy bear of a man would. "This old friend of mine, we used to play ball together right out in this very block. He graduated head of our class. Made something of himself. He's a little older, but he's smart and he's a good guy. I'd have introduced him to you, except you hate that kind of thing, so I was thinking the Doc, there... It's not good for a person to be alone, Janie. She's more alone than most." It didn't sound that way, though, with the laughter coming from the kitchen. Frankie had come in a little bit behind the women, and had stopped off in the kitchen to give Maura his official welcome. Once in a while, she or Angela would glance towards the living room, shushing one another, enjoying the joke of putting one over on Frank.

Jane ran a hand through her hair. "Look, Pop, Maura's not alone." She clinched her jaw for a moment, feeling the muscles flex involuntarily. _In for a penny, Rizzoli._ "Pop, I know you, Ma, and Frankie have talked about this," at her father's questioning look, she blushed. "Frankie told me you three talk about me when I'm not around… sometimes." Unable to figure out what to do with her hands, she finally stuck them in her pockets. "Frankie said you and Ma were pretty much okay with it. I mean," she was determined to not look away as she told her father. "Maura and I… we're… well, she's my girlfriend, Pop. We're together in, you know, _that_ way." She winced, waiting to see how Frank Sr. would react.

There was a brief pause as he processed this information from his daughter. Then Frank's already broad mouth widened even further as he lunged to sweep her into a bear hug. "That's my girl!" he crowed proudly, quietly, voice choked with tears. "Thank God, thank God," he kept repeating as he squeezed his baby girl tight.

Stunned, Jane simply tried to breathe through the grip her father had her in. With her arms pinned at her side, she couldn't do much more than stand there until Frank decided to let go, and her mind immediately latched onto to his 'thank god' comments. _I don't even know…_

"I knew you'd come home with a good one." He pushed Jane away from him, but only to cradle her face in his hands. "That's my girl. Janie, I want you to hang onto this one. She's a good girl." The tenor of the conversation changed a bit as he gave Jane the talk he'd always intended to give to Tommy and Frankie. "I mean, a _good_ girl. Treat her right. Be a gentleman. There, that's all I got to say about it. Just be happy." He pulled out his handkerchief, mumbling about dust in the air, and then chuckled as he dabbed at his nose and eyes. "I'm never going to hear the end of this with your mother. What do you bet she'll be calling the Taluccis by tomorrow morning, bragging that _her_ daughter's dating a _doctor_."

"Oh God, the Taluccis." Jane's eyes widened. "I guess keeping this quit is probably not going to happen, huh? Ma's going to call the _entire_ neighborhood about this." She sighed, mumbling to herself, "I keep forgetting Maura's a doctor." With a shake of her head and smirk on her face, she leaned over to place a kiss on her father's cheek. "Thanks, Pop. I'm glad you're okay with this. I'm going to go help finish up getting dinner ready."


	11. Chapter 11

Dinner was fairly peaceful considering the news that Jane had seemingly dropped on everyone. However, the Rizzolis had no issue with bringing Maura, who was already practically a part of the family, fully into the fold. The conversations at the table rotated between plumbing, law enforcement, and fashion. Apparently, Angela had an eye for it, or so she informed Maura. By dessert, the matriarch was already thinking ahead to the future.

"So, Janie, are you bringing Maura with you to your cousin's wedding next month?"

"Uh, I hadn't really thought about it." Jane glanced over to the blonde. "I mean, it's just a wedding for my second cousin. It's not like it's…"

"But, she's been planning this wedding for _decades_, and, when I RSVP'ed, I told her to give you a 'plus one', just in case." At Jane's eye roll, Angela added, "What? I could hope, and, look, I was right. Besides, you have to go. Traditions!"

"And a free open bar," Frankie threw in as he grabbed another piece of cake.

"Frankie! Honestly… but, Janie, promise me that both of you will be there." Angela was glancing between the two women.

"Ma, first of all, Maura can speak for herself. Second of all, what traditions?" By the time Jane was done speaking, her voice had gone up a few notches, and irritation was written across her features.

"You have to be there to catch the bouquet, of course. Now that you are _finally_ dating someone…"

"Oh, My. God." Jane covered her face with her hand, a blush crawling up her neck.

Maura, meanwhile, was attempting to chew and swallow a delicious but very sticky bite of dessert pastry so that she could offer input to diffuse and de-fuse the situation. It just wasn't happening. In lieu of being able to offer verbal assistance to her girlfriend, she simply laid a hand on Jane's thigh.

Jane groaned. "Ma, don't do this. Please don't do this."

"Do what? All I'm saying is that you should be there just in case. What can it hurt?"

"Angela, leave her alone. One big step at a time, okay?" Frank gave his daughter a gentle pat on the hand.

"But Frank…"

"Not tonight. Give the two girls at least a couple of days before you start in on marriage."

"I never said the word!" Angela gave her husband an offended look. "But, okay, fine, I'm just trying to be helpful." She stood to start clearing the table. "I don't understand why everyone's so touchy all of a sudden."

"Let me help you, Ma." Frankie bolted up and started to help clear things away. He gave his sister a small smile. "I want to tell you about this girl from high school I ran into the other day anyway. Jenny Parker. You remember her?"

"Jenny? Oh yeah, she was such a nice girl. How is she?" Angela headed for the kitchen, still talking. "You know, I heard her parents own three dry cleaning stores now…"

As her brother and mother disappeared into the kitchen, Jane let out a long sigh. "Thank God. I'm going to have to remember to buy him a beer for that."

Maura shot Frankie a look of profound gratitude before turning to Jane, now able to speak, albeit a bit too late to be of actual help. "Jane, I don't want to be annoying, but do you want to know what I'm thinking?" She did not wait for a facetious comment, but plunged right on. "I'm thinking that just now I saw something so beautiful that I immediately knew how you grew up into the person that I love so much. I just watched your parents accept something that is, strictly speaking, against the doctrines of their religion, just because it makes you happy. I saw them get right past my gender and make the assumption that it would be possible for us to love one another for a lifetime, and commit to one another as a married couple. I'm not saying that's what I want right now, but I do think it's wonderful that _they_ think it's possible, even likely. And I saw them also assume that the entire rest of your family would not only support us as a valid pairing, but even be impressed with us because I could be good for you. Jane," she continued, turning more fully in her chair so that she could face her girlfriend almost straight-on, "when you were afraid - two days ago, remember? - when you were afraid to be open at work or here with your family, or with me, or with yourself, wasn't it because you doubted that what we just witnessed could ever actually happen? This is a really good reason to be _glad_. Your parents and your brother, Jane, they love you so much. So much."

Jane glanced to where her father had been sitting, but he had apparently slipped away sometime during the start of Maura's dialogue. They were alone in the dining room, and Jane felt claustrophobic despite the space around them. "Well, I… no," she shook her head. "No, that's not why I was worried. I know my parents just want me to be happy. I was worried because," she stood up, walking to the window that looked out across the small front yard. "Because, Maura, this is a really big piece of me that I have been ignoring for a really long time, and it scars me to face exactly how different I am from everyone else… the normal people." She turned to face the blonde, arms crossed over her chest. "But, I'm willing to face it because I want to be with you."

Frank wasn't too far away. He'd gone to the couch to pretend to watch the game, but he had the volume on so low that Maura realized he had to be listening to them instead. She ignored that fact, hoping that Jane wouldn't notice it at all. This conversation was more important, and Jane's words had distressed her. "Is that the only reason? Jane, am I really the only thing that made it okay for you to acknowledge this, this huge part of who you are?" She'd been about to stand and follow Jane, maintaining the very small space that normally they allowed between them when they were in a room together, but hearing that made her sit back down again, hands fallen to her lap as, behind them, Frank made a show of changing channels and then returning to the game.

"No, not really." Jane leaned against the wall behind her, eyes running around the room. "I'm tired of my mother trying to set me up with men when I'm not interested. I'm tired of lying to her about why I'm not interested. I'm tired of having to side step and dodge questions when women I'm around start talking about cute guys. I'm tired of feeling alone all the time, and I know that feeling has a lot do with cutting myself off from… I don't know… me?" She shifted her weight. "The past couple of days, I've felt more like me than I have in a long time, maybe ever. Yeah, you're a part of it, but, if you walked away from me tomorrow, which I hope you don't, I wouldn't backtrack on this." She dropped her arms to her side, pressing her palms against the wall behind her. "I want to be with you, Maura. I really do. You were a catalyst, I'm not going to lie. But, no one could have made me do this but me. So, in a way, I guess I finally just did it for me." Her eyes had fallen to a patch of floor in front of her feet. "Does that make sense?"

The seated woman's eyes closed, and over the course of a deep sigh, the worry smoothed itself out of her forehead just before she sunk her face into her hands for a moment as the tension released itself. "It makes sense. It also relieves me of a huge burden of responsibility, so thank you. I never wanted to be anyone's sole reason for anything." This time she did stand and bridge the distance between them, standing close enough that their bodies could share warmth, though she did not move to actually touch her girlfriend. The nearness alone was enough, for now. "Just in case you don't already know, just in case you need to hear this, I won't be walking away from you tomorrow, or for the foreseeable future. I want to be with you, too."

Maura had gotten quieter and quieter, nearer and nearer, as the two women spoke together. She hadn't noticed that Frank had turned the volume off, then the game itself, and had turned around to try to read lips to catch snatches of their conversation, that Angela and Frankie had finished the washing up and were standing and watching them as if they were at a live theater play. Each one of them was thinking some variation on the same thing: _Isn't that nice? Goodness, they're so sweet together. Wow, Janie found herself a hot girl. A hot smart girl. God, they're in love. Everyone should have that. Am I supposed to be seeing this? This is pretty personal_. Predictably, Angela was the first to recover, closing her mouth and turning to Frankie. "See, that's what I want you to have," her scratchy voice said, as if he'd been the one all along that she'd been urging to find a mate and settle down. "Don't you want that?"

"Really, Ma?" Frankie narrowed his eyes. "Can't we drop this for just _one_ night? I mean, come on!"

The women jumped, lost in the moment they had forgotten about the rest of the people around them. "My family." Jane rolled her eyes. "Are you sure you want to be involved in this?" She smiled, pulling Maura to her and kissing her. At Maura's surprised and confused expression, the detective replied, "I said I was tired of hiding, remember?"

Maura remained stiff for a moment, then relaxed into Jane's body, smiling. "I'm sure. I love your family, too."

* * *

**Thank you for reading this! Googlemouth and I appreciate it, and please remember to review :-)**


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